Comments on: Higher Education Bubble http://www.libertypages.com/cgw/2008/05/07/higher-education-bubble/ Musings on Science, Religion and Philosophy Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:57:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gerald Smith http://www.libertypages.com/cgw/2008/05/07/higher-education-bubble/comment-page-1/#comment-447 Gerald Smith Thu, 08 May 2008 17:05:12 +0000 http://www.libertypages.com/cgw/?p=216#comment-447 US News and World Report does an annual Best Colleges report. This year they did it differently. They did a Best US Jobs report. Why? Because so many positions are now being outsourced overseas that just getting a degree does not guarantee any kind of job whatsoever. For example, I spent 20 years in the USAF, 16 in computers. I figured I'd have a nice $100K/year job afterward, especially given the growth of tech jobs in the 1990s. Unfortunately, I retired in 2002, at which time companies were telling me I was too expensive for them; and they were outsourcing to Russia, India and China. I'm now working in a different field, which I enjoy, but no where near the money I expected to be bringing in. Which jobs did USNWR recommend? Electrician, plumber, welder, nursing, etc. The majority of the jobs required some trades skills, but few required a degree (most of them were in the medical field). Even with medical, it won't be long before we outsource much of it to other countries, or "in-source" foreign workers to fill positions at a lower wage. In my view, our education bubble is about to pop. Since "free trade" means competing against subsidization and no environmental requirements, American job seekers will find it more and more difficult to find decent paying jobs here. US News and World Report does an annual Best Colleges report. This year they did it differently. They did a Best US Jobs report. Why? Because so many positions are now being outsourced overseas that just getting a degree does not guarantee any kind of job whatsoever. For example, I spent 20 years in the USAF, 16 in computers. I figured I’d have a nice $100K/year job afterward, especially given the growth of tech jobs in the 1990s. Unfortunately, I retired in 2002, at which time companies were telling me I was too expensive for them; and they were outsourcing to Russia, India and China. I’m now working in a different field, which I enjoy, but no where near the money I expected to be bringing in.

Which jobs did USNWR recommend? Electrician, plumber, welder, nursing, etc. The majority of the jobs required some trades skills, but few required a degree (most of them were in the medical field).

Even with medical, it won’t be long before we outsource much of it to other countries, or “in-source” foreign workers to fill positions at a lower wage.

In my view, our education bubble is about to pop. Since “free trade” means competing against subsidization and no environmental requirements, American job seekers will find it more and more difficult to find decent paying jobs here.

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