Colleges not training students for careers that are growing

[Elmore Furth]

But I thought art history was the major to meet chicks.

WASHINGTON — The United States economy is in serious danger from a growing mismatch between the skills that will be needed for jobs being created and the educational backgrounds (or lack thereof) of would-be workers. That is the conclusion of a mammoth analysis of jobs data being released today by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

The new report says that the United States is "on a collision course with the future" since far too few Americans complete college. Specifically, the report says that by 2018, the economy will have jobs for 22 million new workers with colleges degrees, but, based on current projections, there will be a shortage of 3 million workers who have some postsecondary degree (associate or higher) and of 4.7 million workers who have a postsecondary certificate.


Colleges not training students for careers that are growing

The ten jobs which are expected to produce the largest growth in number of jobs,(requiring a degree) are;
1) Registered Nurses - expected to add 581,000 new positions
2) Accountant - up an estimated 279,400 jobs
3) Nursing Aide/Orderlies - adding 276,000 new jobs
4) Postsecondary Teachers - up 256,900 positions
5) Elementary Teachers - expected to rise by 244,200 jobs
6) Management Analysts - adding 178,300 new jobs
7) Computer Engineers - up 175,100 jobs
8) Network Analysts - going up by 155,800 jobs
9) LPN's - expected to see 155,600 new jobs by 2018
10) Doctors - going up by 144,100

The job not requiring a degree which are expected to have the highest number of new jobs include;

1) Home Health Aides +460,900
2) Customer Service Representatives +399,500
3) Food Preparation +394,300
4) Home Care Aides + 375,800
5) Retail Salesperson's + 374,700
6) Office Clerks + 358,700
7) Construction Labor + 255,900
8) Truck Drivers + 232,900
9) Landscaping Workers + 217,100
10) Bookkeeping clerks + 212,400
11) Administrative Assistants + 204,400
12) Receptionists + 172,900
13) Carpenters + 165,400
14) Medical Assistants + 163,900
15) Supervisors + 160,300
16) Security Guards + 152,500
17) Waiters + 151,600
18) Maintenance Workers + 147,900
19) Child Care Workers + 142,100
20) Teacher Assistants + 134,900


Which Jobs Will Be in Demand Over the Next Ten Years?

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Formal education is highly overrated

Anyone with the interest, desire and self-discipline to do so can be broadly read, well informed and educated in the broad sense of the word. And lots of folks with college degrees are anything but educated in that sense.

Career success is largely dependent upon both career skills and people skills. Some careers do require credentials but those are largely meaninglewss without the necessary skills.

One of the great myths of American society is that a higher education with good grades will lead to a good job. Bullshit.

[KurtNYC]

3. 4 of the 10 are nursing and doctors

I want mine to be formally educated and certified. And I have no doubt that nursing is growing and will employ most of those who pursue the credentials.

I think the analysis of the data is mostly correct.

[Coyote_Bandit]

13. Meanwhile

about 50% of all college grads never work in the field they study.

And it simply doesn't matter if those doctors and nurses have credentials but no skill (or poor skills). Schools give degrees to folks everyday who do not have adequate or appropriate job skills. That includes doectors and nurses. That's why we rely on licensing exams for professional qualification and credentialling - and on professional boards to impose disciplinary action for various forms of malpractice and improper actions.

You want doectors and nurses that are trained. So do I - even though I haven't been able to avail myself of their services for over 15 years. But being trained is somthing very different than being educated. Training is is practical education or practice, usually under supervision, in some art, trade, or profession. Education meanwhile refers to the broad development of the abilities of the mind and the acquisition of information.

Assuming at some point I have the ability to access the healthcare system, I want a doctor and nurse that are trained - and while I would prefer that they be educated that is secondary. Being able to recite the circumstances under which an IV should be administered is something very different from recognizing those circumstances in real life and having the skill to administer the IV.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. 300,000 teachers are being laid off this summer

So I seriously doubt we will need 244,000 elementary teachers.

[stray cat]

7. not possible - the predictions said it was a secure profession

the teachers must just think they are unemployed :sarcasm:

[YvonneCa]

8. ...

...you're funny. ;)

[riverdale]

14. Plus, the article appears to be two years old

It speaks to 10 years out in the future, with that date being 2018. That would mean they might have missed out on the world financial Armageddon of 2008.

[SheilaT]

4. I am constantly amazed at the students

or the parents of students who major in something like art history or anthropology and then are genuinely surprised to learn that there are few if any jobs available to them.

And while I agree that in many cases the need for a formal education is vastly overrated, it's also amazing how many companies want college graduates for things like administrative assistants.

Students do need to spend time in their college's career center (or whatever their particular school calls it) to find out what the job prospects in any major really are.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. The students choose majors, not the schools

Its a major life choice, and some choose poorly in terms of job prospects, but it is their choice. Recent story about an NYU grad with a interesting but unmarketable degree was complaining that her loans were somehow unfair. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?adxnnl=1&ref=business&src=me&adxnnlx=1275141689-hA8p5c2Gk0gvujtqFc49m

Students need to be accountable for that choice, so I tend to deride those that whine about high college loans for degrees without a market. If you take out $100K in college loans for a degree in underwater basket weaving, it was your call.

Finally, college is also more than advanced trade school. A degree should mean a student who has had exposure to a number of broad areas.

[stray cat]

6. Expectations are often wrong - after all teachers have awesome job security

and never get laid off!

[YvonneCa]

9. In what world is that? n/t

[SocialistLez]

10. Postsecondary teachers? Really?

Getting a Master's or Ph. D. just to end up as an adjunct?

Have fun with that!

[provis99]

11. Here's a radical idea..

How about employers training their workers for their jobs! Radical, isn't it!

[SocialistLez]

12. +1 NT