A new report found that 52% of students who recently obtained a bachelor’s degree are underemployed and this impacts how money much they’ll make in their careers.
Your first job after college is more important than you might think.
Roughly 52% of recent college graduates are working jobs that don’t require a degree. And for those who find themselves underemployed after graduation, it can be difficult to get career earnings back on track. After a decade, 45% of graduates are still stuck in jobs that don’t require college, according to a report by the Burning Glass Institute and the Strada Education Foundation that looked at data related to educational attainment, employment and career trajectories of more than 60 million workers.
An underemployed graduate earns about 25% more than someone with no education beyond high school, according to the report. That’s much lower than the 88% premium a recent graduate employed in a college-level job typically earns compared to a high-school graduate.
At a time when the cost of college continues to climb and millions are struggling with student debt, the report adds to the debate about whether college is a valuable investment for families. Graduates who start their career at a college-level job rarely fall into “underemployment,” which the report defines as college graduates who are working in jobs that don’t typically require four-year degrees.
While many students and families view college as a pathway to career success, 88% of recently underemployed graduates are working jobs they could have gotten had they not gone to college at all, including office support, retail sales, food service and blue-collar roles in construction and transportation.
A separate study, released earlier this week by the HEA Group, found that a majority of graduates of more than 1,000 higher education institutions fail to earn as much as a typical high school graduate 10 years after they’ve enrolled.
Written by: Francesca Maglione — With assistance from Paulina Cachero @Bloomberg
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