[on_]

Curiously, the breakdown of degrees by demographic doesn't include employment. The article seems to make the case that people should seek institutional education. Broadly, that makes sense, there are pretty traditional(ancient) precedents for apprenticeships and there are newer alternatives in the education system. Vocational schools were mentioned, and are also a good way to learn a skill.

The weird thing about the article, or at least, with a title like It's a Tough Job Market for the Young Without Degrees is it seems to imply that the job market is tough for people without degrees, but is otherwise healthy. That doesn't seem correct, and there does not seem to be any information in the article indicating that Vynny Brown's (interviewed in the article) 20 year old peers are faring much better than he is. So, the article isn't incorrect in some points it makes like retraining the workforce is important, university education isn't the only type of education, ect, however it doesn't really explain the meta-problem.

The job market is tough because there is increased outsourcing in physical/human-centric work and simultaneously(even in manufacturing) improved technology, step-changes in process engineering and the electronic automation of simple tasks have removed a lot of jobs from the economy and for some that do exists, significantly limited the perceived value society has for them, limiting earning potetnial.