A college degree is generally a good bet, but it’s not enough to protect you from poverty.
The Census Bureau’s annual report on income and poverty released Wednesday highlights this depressing fact. Among bachelor’s degree recipients, roughly 3.6 million or 4.8 percent were living in poverty in 2017, according to the Census Bureau. That’s up from 3.3 million and 4.5 percent in 2016. Bachelor’s degree recipients were the only educational cohort to see the number or the share of people in poverty rise among their ranks.
It’s still too early to tell whether the uptick in bachelor’s degree recipients living in poverty is a true trend or a statistical blip. The 0.3 percentage point increase in the share of college-educated Americans in poverty is about the same as the report’s margin of error for that finding. Still, “this is something we want to watch,” said Doug Webber, an economics professor at Temple University.
What’s more, the mere fact that millions of college-educated Americans are living in poverty adds another data point to the increasingly complicated picture of a college degree’s value in the labor market. On the one hand, a degree is more necessary than ever to succeed in today’s economy — those with a bachelor’s degree or above are the least likely to be in poverty, according to the Census Bureau; on the other hand, getting a degree still involves some risk.
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7 comments:
It's as it pretty much always has been. Graduate, take an entry level job if you can find one, and support yourself with any job you can find. Living with Mom and Dad helps, or living a bunch of roommates, all of whom are in similar circumstances.
not all degrees are equal
Rarely is getting a college degree a good bet. It's nothing but more of the democrat lies. When they ran all the manufacturing jobs out of the country they LIED and said a college degree would be the answer. So what did they do they lowered the standards so anyone could attend college. What did this do? It put the US at a major disadvantage because truthfully most college graduated today are not truly educated. Almost all degrees from public university have little to no value. Even degrees such as engineering from institutions like U of MD are worthless because the courses have been dumbed down. The teaching degrees are a joke. I know someone who just because it was convenient got her Doctorate in Education about 10 yrs ago and was sickened at how easy it was compared to when she got her bachelor's in the 80's. She is fond of saying how she didn't study at all for the masters and only had one ear open. For the doctorate she didn't have to study at all and just keep both ears open to lectures and was able to pass at almost the top of the class.
The American way. Get thru grade school, take out loans since everyone says you MUST have a college degree (maybe even get a 2nd one because the cafeteria food at school is better than eating rice-a-roni every other day), then add your name to the poverty list (degree in hand) looking for a job.
Yep, planned and initiated by ALL politicians!
Sad indeed!
PS - hows that FREE community college (WOR-WIC) helping in the long term?
Yes it is amazing how much value is put on college degrees (with no real value) that are worthless) My neighbor (and builder of the community) would count houses by profession. What a snob. I guess a worthless degree gives you status but no money.
but....but
My Masters degree in Gender Identity, I though would work to get me a job @ G.L.B.T. ???
For lots of students who get their college paid for by someone else, they just go there for the parties. They have no intention of working when welfare is available. Some get degrees in subjects that no one is hiring for. A lot get a diploma when they do not deserve one. People who could not pass a 3rd or 4th grade English test. It's given to them hoping it will make a change in their life.
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