from
(snip)"UPDATE: According to the Census Bureau, in 2008 of the 25 years and under workers:
•13.4% had less than a high school diploma.
•31.2% were high school graduates, no college.
•26.0% had some college or associate degree.
•29.4% had a college degree or higher.
This graph shows the unemployment rate by four levels of education (all groups are 25 years and older).
Note that the unemployment rate increased sharply for all four categories in 2008 and into 2009.
Unfortunately this data only goes back to 1992 and only includes one previous recession (the stock / tech bust in 2001). Clearly education matters with regards to the unemployment rate - but education didn't seem to matter as far as the recovery rate in unemployment following the 2001 recession. All four groups recovered slowly.
The recovery rates following the great recession might be different than following the 2001 recession. I'd expect the unemployment rate to fall faster for workers with higher levels of education, since their skills are more transferable, than for workers with less education. I’d also expect the unemployment rate for workers with lower levels of education to stay elevated longer in this “recovery” because there is no building boom this time. Just a guess and it isn't happening so far ... currently the unemployment rate for the highest educated group is still increasing."(snip)
Two interesting take-aways ...
- the unemployment rate difference between those with a high school education and those with 'some college' / associates degree is essentially insignificant ( ~ 1%).
- while the unemployment rate for those with bachelors' degrees is significantly lower than the less educated unemployed, this unemployment rate is still rising.
Two speculations to explain these facts ...
- employers already had a strong incentive to automate / outsource semi-skilled US labor, thus the unemployment rates for those with both a high school education and 'some college' / associates degrees were affected early by automation / outsourcing efforts. As certain aspects of economic activity increase, and as automation / outsourcing has already taken place to a significant degree, the unemployment rates of US high school graduates and 'some college' / associates degree holders appears to be stabilizing.
- it has only been very recently that the outsourcing of services requiring a bachelor's degree ( i.e. architecture, engineering, legal, medical support) have become practical. Thus the unemployment rates of bachelors' degree holding US unemployed has failed to stabilize.




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