> it's not as big a deal to me as it would be to men of my age 20 years ago.
Less than 6% of workers are working computer or math jobs - of any kind - which suggests that the overwhelming majority of people still have a difficult time when they're listed as "unemployed."
One common trend I have seen in my social circle is the lack of any employable skills. They may or may not have college degrees, but in general their degrees did not give them concrete job skills or they don't have a degree and no skilled trade.
What would ideally happen is people learn a skilled trade if they are stuck on the job market. This training should also happen in high school.
Agreed. Figuring out how to evaluate the trades and schools seems really important. I would be worried about ending up with more debt and still no job, in cases where the school was bad or the job market wasn't really there in the end.
Except the education system is bad at picking winners. What's in demand when you're in highschool is not what's in demand by the time you're entering the workforce.
It's not about picking winners. It is about giving students at least one practical skill early on, then letting them choose what they want to do.
I am a programmer, but I can also weld and fix cars. This is because in high school I took some auto shop classes. Let's say for some odd reason programming doesn't work out anymore as a career(this is happening to lawyers and pharmacists), I have something to fall back on.
>>I am a programmer, but I can also weld and fix cars. This is because in high school I took some auto shop classes.
That's a pretty flippant dismissal of the knowledge required to either "fix cars" or "weld" for a living. My brother was an excellent welder and it's a very hard life.
Both. Also in steadily working. My brother was one of three people with certain certifications in our state of several million people and had to put up with the sort of nonsense that would have us quitting immediately.
How do they pick? Maybe they need help picking better. Seems like there's a lot of people around here interested in trends and intelligence that could help with that.
Less than 6% of workers are working computer or math jobs - of any kind - which suggests that the overwhelming majority of people still have a difficult time when they're listed as "unemployed."