Sep 10 2008

Unemployment and How Today’s Students Can Avoid It!

13 Responses to “Unemployment and How Today’s Students Can Avoid It!”

1. # Drew Stegmaieron 11 Sep 2008 at 7:32 am

   Is there a logical reason for the slowdown in the global economy? If so, how can this slowdown be prevented?

2. # Kyle Schreiberon 11 Sep 2008 at 10:44 am

   If a manager was going to hire someone and they have an aplicant who has a major from Harvard and a Major from Radford will they take the school into consideration or simply the fact that have a major in that field ?

3. # Jason Welkeron 11 Sep 2008 at 7:49 pm

   Drew.

   I think there’s a simple and logical reason for the global economic slowdown. It goes something like this: The world has experienced a long period of expansion. During this time, spending by households, firms, and governments rose and rose as a proportion of total income. Savings dwindled, and when total spending approached the level of total income, we started to borrow to continue our spending ways.

   Clearly this behavior can only go on for so long. Eventually an adjustment must occur to bring spending, income and savings back into line. In the US, that adjustment has been characterized by a falling dollar, rising oil prices, rising unemployment and slower rates of growth. Americans are paying the price of years and years of easy money and high levels of consumption through falling real incomes and decreasing purchasing power of their dollars on foreign made goods.

   The slowdown is the economy’s attempt to self-correct from a period of unsustainable economic growth and consumption. Falling demand for the dollar reflects foreigners’ declining confidence in the American way of consuming.

   Much of the global slowdown of course is probably related to the American slowdown. The US economy, as large as it is, sets the bar for the global economy. As Americans decrease their demand for imports with the falling dollar, foreign producers lose an important source of business.

   Of course, my “simple logical” explanation gets really complicated the deeper I go, but I think part of the cause of the global economic slowdown is explained here. I would suggest, therefore, that the global slowdown is not as much a problem in itself rather a solution to an underlying problem that has afflicted the US and other economies, that of unsustainable consumption and government spending. Balancing budgets on the micro and macro level would be one place to start to help achieve a greater level of global economic stability and sustainable growth.

   Thanks for the comments and questions!

4. # Steve Latteron 12 Sep 2008 at 5:04 pm

   Hi Drew and Kyle,

   Thanks for responding on the blog!

   Drew,

   Thanks for providing your first post!

   Jason gave you a great, accurate, and detailed answer above.

   If I were to sum it up in one sentence I would say that the global slowdown is being caused by decreased spending by both businesses and households. We will learn countless times in class that it is SPENDING that drives the short-run success of the economy. As I always say “If you stop spending at Panera across the street from our school, then the owner will unemploy some people and then that unemployed person will have less to spend”. Due to falling stock prices (another story) and falling house prices (another story), Americans FEEL poorer (economists call this the “reverse wealth effect”) and aren’t spending as much.

   Kyle,

   Thanks for all providing your first post!

   Yes, the school that you graduate does matter, but more in the short run than in the long run. Everything else equal (there’s that phrase again!), any manager would take the graduate from Harvard over Radford. As your career progresses it will still be an impressive “interview eye catcher” but more weight will be given to your competency, interpersonal skills, accomplishments, and initiative. I could name you (but I won’t) many employees that have worked for me from lesser schools that were promoted much faster than those from schools that were clearly more selective.

5. # Fabienne Bergaminon 14 Sep 2008 at 4:00 am

   I read the article and found some really interesting points Mr. Welker made. Let me add my thoughts to this article because I think his concept does not consider some aspects.
   Obviously the statistic shows that a better education leads to a lower chance of unemployment. These are hard facts and Mr. Welker seems to fade out this fact.
   Mr. Welker is focusing on Life-majoring as the main concept to avoid unemployment. Assuming the Life-majoring concept is correct then the question is how does education and life-majoring go together? Mr. Welker writes that the school is not relevant to get the necessary skills for life-majoring. But the statistic shows a different picture. School itself obviously is the place to educate the skills to major someone’s life. Otherwise people without education would have to show the same unemployment rate as well educated people.
   Mr. Welker emphasizes two different universities and says it is not important what university to go to. In my opinion it’s an incomplete statement as long as one of the schools is teaching the life-majoring skills better.
   But we don’t just learn at school. We can also learn life-majoring from our parents, the social environment and the circumstances in life. Training Life-major skills starts even earlier than school. It’s very possible that these basic skills let you succeed better in school. If this is the case then school just boosts the life-majoring skills and the longer you go to school the better skills you have. This would confirm Mr. Welker’s statements. But if school does not contribute anything to the life-majoring skills then Mr. Welker’s statements appear to be wrong assuming the statistic is correct.

6. # Chris Hoferon 14 Sep 2008 at 11:22 pm

   This was quite an interesting article.
   It definitely makes students such as myself think about their future.
   What I find interesting is that unemployment is not merely limited to those without a college education. Even people who have worked for college and advanced degrees are being left jobless. The level of competition is rapidly increasing and what is now considered the “standard” college education, is simply not enough. The “LIFE” major shows us the tools needed to stand out and attain our desired professions. Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Flexibility and Emerging Technological skills are all becoming increasingly important. “Technology” is something that worries me as a musician. I can go to college and get the best education possible, but in the end will I, along with countless other musicians, be replaced by the growing technological advancements. Is there a point where robots and machines will replace an art form that has been around since the beginning of civilization? My fear is that not only musicians but also millions of others (ex. farmers, fishermen etc…) could be made unemployed at the hand of modern technology. How does someone fight unemployment when their competition has an efficiency that is unattainable to humans?

7. # Steve Latteron 15 Sep 2008 at 9:37 pm

   Hi Chris,

   First of all, you have excellent writing skills! I can tell that from the organization and clarity of your post. That is one other skill that will increase your career marketability.

   Now back to your post.

   I do understand your concern as to how increased technology generates so much unemployment. And, yes, the scary part is “we ain’t seen nothing yet”! In the United States over the last 10 years we have lost an average of 13 million jobs a year due to technology, trade (foreign competition), and domestic competition. However, the good news is that over that same period we have gained an average of 14 million jobs a year due to technology, trade, and new markets.

   Technology is the number one answer driving turnover in employment. If you take a look at the big picture, technology replaces humans everywhere but has especially in the agricultural (farming) and manufacturing areas. But it has also replaced much labor in the service area as computers and the Internet have replaced millions of jobs as well.

   This is all good in terms of economic growth and rising standards of living (more products and services per capita) but certainly comes at a cost of stress and uncertainty.

   Where will all this lead? Will we be a nation with no one unemployed since the machines will be doing all the work.

   Not at all! Employment will continue to change as our standards of living rise just as it has over the last 100 years. More jobs will be created in the areas of creating better machines and of supervising the machines. More jobs will be devoted to health care and luxury items so we can live longer and enjoy our decreasing work week since the machines are doing more of the work. How exactly this picture will look or the speed of the change is not known, but new jobs will be created that never existed before just like the Internet, home game systems, wireless technologies, and health care are exploding today.

   Major in LIFE as well as your conventional major………and you will be a “winner” in today’s and tomorrow’s rapidly changing world.

   As for majoring in Music, just remember that Alan Greenspan, the former head of the FED (America’s central bank) was a music major! He majored in LIFE and he flexibly decided to switch over to economics!

8. # Younes Huberon 17 Sep 2008 at 2:46 pm

   Reading the Article, I agree with most of what it says, yet I disagree with some other points. To better succeed in LIFE than in the other subjects is, in my opinion, untrue for us students at this point in our life. We need to get good grades in the subjects to get the right amount of points in the IB or AP in order to get into the good universities. After havin graduated maybe further our studies, maybe not, but surely with a degree from a good university, we then are in fact scarce. Being scarce it is easy to stay employed making good amounts of money. Being successful in LIFE is in fact, very important in the future, I think, after having completed our studies in order to be a successful business man or whatever one chooses to be.

9. # Steve Latteron 18 Sep 2008 at 5:35 am

   Hi Younes,

   You are so correct about the importance of getting the best education now, whether AP or IB or if you are already in college. Good grades now will get you into this best universities and set you up for a great career.

   However, research shows that the LIFE major is about NOW…not later. You need to do both. Research shows that those who not work on their leadership, interpersonal skills, flexibility, and emerging technology skills NOW, will be poorer at these skills later. That is why all educational institutions including high schools in the United States are bringing this focus on LIFE as a main educational point.

   Thanks for contributing!

10. # Chris Rieveon 10 Oct 2008 at 8:29 am

    A very interesting take on the college situation Mr. Latter, going against all norms which high school kids live by today, but I have to agree with you. I feel, that the school that you attended has very little net worth in life, but in fact, as you said, you personal qualities will eventually determine your success in the business world. However I do believe that the school that you attend will determine at least initially what kind of opportunities that are presented to you. It is your job in order to make the most of the situation that you choose. No matter what school you attend your life school does account for how far you will go in your job and in life in general. I think that after these initial selection for jobs are given, it is completely dependent on who continues to learn at their new schools, their jobs, and adapt and make yourself the best fit employee for your job.

    I feel that if you do not attend a great school, then you have to work harder for how far you will go in life. Many times you must become a self-made person and usually have nothing handed to you, but instead work and do whatever it take in order to succeed in business world. An example of how college has little effect on your success in life would be Bill Gates. Although he may be a huge exception to the rule of success without college, he became a self-made billionaire because of his hard work and innovative ideas that he had in life. He is just one example of how your personal qualities are more important than the college that you attend. Another perfect example of would be my mom who went to college for two years at NOVA, but through her hard work and determination became one of the top executives in the May company and subsequently in the Ratner Corporation. She achieved all this though the life qualities that you talked about in this article, mainly hard work, and taking advantage of every opportunity that was given to her. She shows that what school you go to, or where you come from, doesn’t trump your own work ethic and determination into molding who you will become in your life.

11. # Meghan Greenon 10 Oct 2008 at 7:13 pm

    I really enjoyed reading this blog and agree with your standpoint on the unemployment issue. Although numbers don’t lie and it is clear from the United States unemployment rate that those with a high school or college degree are more likely to face unemployment than those with a college education, it is clear that a college education is not the only ingredient to success. This is not to say, however, that getting a college education is not important. As you pointed out, the jobs in today’s advanced economy tend to favor those with an education rather than one who bypassed this track. In my opinion, a college degree opens the door for you to an endless array of job opportunities. However, in order to have long terms success, you need to major in LIFE. Education only starts your career.
    I feel that you can compare this concept of LIFE obtaining jobs to the college admission process. Even though you may have top-level grades and SAT scores, if you are not a “well-rounded” person with other qualities besides intelligence, the college may not necessarily feel the need to accept you. In order to be successful in life, you probably need to have education. But in the long run, LIFE are the real ingredients to a happy and successful life.

12. # Colin Jon 11 Oct 2008 at 10:55 am

    I feel this article contains an abundance of good advice. The idea that the school one attends is virtually irrelevant, I feel, is mostly true. It seems to me that for ones first job the the name on the top of your diploma does make a big difference. The company has little to judge you on except your degree and whatever little job experience you may have had. You are right that once you have the job, your alma mater means nothing next to what you can do for the company. One must acknowledge the “alumni network” at some schools can greatly assist someone. This however mostly helps one get a job and does little for one to advance in ranks or stay employed.

    While I agree with your majoring in “LIFE”, I feel that you may be overemphasizing the importance of a quality major. It is good to have the traits which you have mentioned, but the economy is expanded through skills no traits. The acquiring of a marketable skill makes you attractive to employers and beneficial to society. A good leader who is good with others, flexible and embraces new technology but say majored in Equine Photography (an actual major) most likely will have difficulties. This is some what of a ridiculous example, but there is something to be said for learning a skill which interests you and which has a job market which you can enter.

    This having been said majoring in “L.I.F.E.” makes you more able to develop and get promotions. As you emphasis, taking initiative is perhaps the key stone of advancement. The benefit is two-fold, you as an individual get more experience doing a particular task and the company is helped, and your boss will notice.

    My final point is a grim one. As companies fail, and more seem to be doing so now then in the recent past, many educated people are losing their jobs. No masters degree or even a perfect execution of the “LIFE” principles can change the fact that your company is out of money. I suppose that their is no way to avoid this potential problem.

13. # Isabel Navarroon 17 Oct 2008 at 10:52 am

    I believe that where a student decides to continue their education after high school only plays a big role in one scenario. This being the period in which a student is marketing themselves for their first job. The school ends up being the biggest aspect of their resume, along with internships and previous jobs while attending school. Obviously the more well known and clout the university holds, the higher the standards are for their students, which employers then put on these respective employees.
    After a student gets their first job and is looking to be promoted or for another job, then comes in the major in LIFE. This second interview is far more dependent on how well that student had carried themselves in their previous job. The main focus of their resume has now focused onto previous jobs: how they carried themselves at work; do they work well with others; are they willing to do what is best for the team.
    I think both a major or at the least a college degree from a respected college is just as important as a major in LIFE, because that degree sets them up for all the other paths one may take in life.

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