I draw cartoons for The Los Angeles Times. This week comments on the “good news” that recent college grads are getting more job offers than last year.
Los Angeles Times Cartoon: More Bad Jobs
Ted Rall
http://rall.comTed Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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12 Comments.
Take the pizza parlor job, Ms Grad!!!
It’s only one step from there to VP of mortgage banking.
This reminds me of a period in late 2007 when I was unemployed. During my unemployment, I communicated occasionally with a fortysomething retired dot-commer who had made his millions in the late 90’s. His view of the world was, in a world, amoral. When I mentioned at one point that a locally-owned pizza joint was hiring, he told me that if he were in my position, he would walk into the place, say whatever needed to be said to get hired, then BS his way into an assistant manager’s job.
I ended up getting hired as a part-time educator (my chosen profession) a few weeks later, and remain in education to this day, although now I work overseas (last year in Ecuador, now in Malaysia). His advice, however, continues to occupy a place in my memory, but not for the reason he intended. No, all he did was provide me with anecdotal proof that, if you’re a conscience-bound person living in a conscienceless age, you’re behind the curve – particularly in latter-day America.
Reminds me of when I graduated from college. The steel economy in W PA had collapsed and jobs were scarce. I moved to DC to take a job as an assistant manager at a fast food joint.
I do not always know what to think about the scarcity of jobs for new grads. I say that because I’ve never been out of work but I chose a horrible major in college and a field that is non stop and very difficult to do. I was a chemistry major in college and there were about 25 of us that finished at a school with 13K students. I’m a white middle class kid; mom is a teacher and dad is an engineer. I went to college on an academic scholarship that paid for a lot and then worked a lot teaching and tutoring and stayed in the dorms all four years. I graduated and looked for grad school Turns out in chemistry you don’t pay for grad school and they don’t have enough american students to fill the PhD slots. It’s a horrible life for five years, pay is 13 grand a year so you can’t have a family and they’re mean to you and the tests are horrible and it’s 80-90 hours per week but you finish up with a PhD in chemistry. Then there are jobs for you. They are typically in the pharmaceutical or semiconductor industry. There are plenty of jobs but again, they are horrible. They pay well but it’s an expected and normal 70-80 hour week and you know that and you look to hire people who will work like that. You can afford a home and a family but you don’t see much of that. You build uup so much vacation they take it away from you each year as there is a cap. I guess I don’t mind it because it’s what I always expected. but I have trouble hiring people for 120 grand a year who will work third shift quality assurance in pharma manufacturing and be solving horrible math problems all night under high stress while tethered and on call to a cell phone and never getting a vacation because we as management look down on taking a break when the profit margin is so slim. I think there are jobs out there. But I don’t think there are any easy high paying jobs. Again, I had no debt coming out of college and plenty of jobs and there are still plenty of jobs but this isn’t rewarding work and it’s definitely not something for nice family ski vacations even if you can afford them.
I remember Angela Davis pointing out many years ago that the situation in California had changed so that there were then more people enjoying the hospitality of California prisons (she didn’t put it quite that way) then there were studying in California universities and colleges. I doubt that the the relative size of these two populations had altered much since that time. Under these circumstances, doesn’t classic economic theory predict that things should, indeed, be looking up for California grads ? California should obviously continue with its policy of incarcerating more people than the number to whom it provides higher education – the market always know best !…
Henri
While I can respond here, I’d like to say two things. First of all, I am guilty of having these jobs. When needed, I worked as a dishwasher for a terrible old folks convlalecent home, and moved up to a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Laugh as you will, but during this time I learned what a bunch of shit it was to treat old people poorly, and what a Corporation could do like simply throw away good food and lie constantly according to American laws. Most new young people never do anything like I did – they don’t “do lawnwork, or anything else – they become losrs by simply doing nothing. Heck – I don’t know! Where did “being an American” turn into being a whiner?
What the fuck! Does the character in your cartoon really expect a job according to her degree? What a stupid idea, huh? I am a teacher, and I never encourage people to become educated in a field that has no promise. If they want to, they can follow their dreams. but if their dreams are not dreams …. Heck _ I give up – So many posts here that assume ignorance..
rikster makes a point. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve run into the “X, who graduated with a degree in English and $80,000 in loans” meme. But that’s not really the problem in and of itself. A college degree has become the new code phrase. It’s the simplest way for businesses to weed out the bad-risk candidates. Someone who dragged themselves to class for four years can handle getting to work on time. There’s also a racial aspect to it. You can’t put down on a job ad, “We’d prefer a white person,” or “Please, no ghetto behavior,” so the code phrase of “college degree” is used instead.
The expense is merely there to make sure that as many people as possible are placed into the rat race of work, pay, conform, obey, work, pay, conform, obey as quickly as possible.
I have found in my life at times it was better to be unemployed than to take a shit job…shit jobs completely sap the life out of you and kill your spirit….when you’re unemployed you at least have options.
I suppose I’m not understanding what some people want. Do they want a job or a job they love or a job that pays really well or a job that they love that pays really well. I find that the rewards in my field are greater when doing things that people don’t like and working long hours. Doing rewarding things pay less because more people want to do those things. If I have a choice between not workign and losing my family home and future or working a 90 hour week and hating life I always pick the working because not working is depressing to me. Employers want and expect more than a 40 hour 8-5 now. They are willing to give you a salary and health benefits but you have to accept that the marketplace demands herculean time and effort. Cell phones and conference calls are part of your vacation if you get to take it. Expect to see dance recitals on video tape. Eat at your desk while filling out reports. I’m payed way above well for this and right behind me are hundreds of other engineers willing to do the same thing to step into my office. Do I expect anything less? No, not unless I start my own company taking that 1000-1 odds failure. I think we no longer have a culture of have and have nots but a culture of willing to give up everything for employment or not.
I don’t know about chemical engineering, but as a software engineer I always push back against the death march mentality.
Last week, in a job application, part of my answer to “what do you expect from X Corp” was “I’ll work overtime in a crisis, but I expect a typical work week to be forty hours.” I am getting the initial interview today, so it does not seem that that was an automatic deal-breaker.
The message that I’m getting here is loud and clear: become a criminal. We seem to have passed the threshold where the opportunity cost of robbing banks, dealing cocaine, or running a stable of prostitutes is actually lower than seeking legitimate employment. Crime may not pay, but at least there’s some dignity in it.