[ye]

In this case the victim is often responsible for making poor career choices.

The whole "I graduated, I'm entitled to a job" sentiment must go away, or we will end up with an army of hungry homeless history, women-study, art, philosophy graduates.

[Pxtl]

But it used to work that way.

A generation or two ago you had a bunch of guys with degrees in literature and art-history managing plants full guys with highschool diplomas. And they all were middle-class or higher.

[bcbrown]

The difference is now most job-seekers have a college degree, so just the mere fact of having a degree is no longer a differentiator.

[btian]

They should learn skills that are desirable in the current economy. Not just programming, but also nursing, chemical engineering etc.

[ijk]

According to the BLS, the outlook for chemical engineers is only 4%, way below the average [1]. Other STEM fields, such as electrical engineering, are also in decline [2]. Software developers only increased by 19,000 jobs total. Students are graduating with the skills you list as desirable, but those skills aren't actually in demand.

[1] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical... [2] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245494/What_STEM_sho...

[ijk]

Yes, I was referring to the second link there, based on the more recent data:

"The number of employed software developers, the largest IT occupation segment, increased by only 1.75%, to 1.1 million, a gain of 19,000. The unemployment rate for developers last year was 2.7%, which is still elevated, according to Hira."

Software developers are doing well, especially compared with some other STEM professions, it's just not huge in absolute terms because there's only about 1.1 million software developer jobs overall. Good for us programmers, but not for STEM careers in general.

[ye]

Under your own link "Software developers, systems software" has THE best combination of the salary, projected number of jobs, and projected growth rate.

Software developers are indeed in demand.

[ffrryuu]

Nursing has topped, the industry lost jobs last year.

[ffrryuu]

So what do you recommend they do? We can't all be programmers.

[ye]

There are only a few options I see for them

1) Give up and work for a shitty job, until it gets automated, then go homeless and hope the government keeps them alive

2) Learn new marketable skills and get a job. You're right, we can't all be programmers, but we can be nurses, car mechanics, accountants, pilots, welders, plumbers, farmers, etc.

3) Start a small business. Many successful small businesses are literally as stupid as "buy wholesale, sell retail". Many have very low barriers to entry, like making ice cream.

[dinkumthinkum]

Your number 2 is silly and it makes it hard for me to take you seriously. If those are the jobs you think students should go towards, which exactly are the dead end jobs you speak of?

[ye]

All the jobs I listed, apart from nursing, are well paid.

Nursing is more for people who like to help/save other people, and it's a noble profession in my mind.

[hmsimha]

IIRC farming is notoriously underpaid, but I believe you are right about the rest.

[ye]

Well, there is "working on a farm", which is not paid well.

And then there's growing things and selling them, which is usually very profitable, and lands you all kinds of government subsidies, depending on where you are and what you're growing.