Across Europe, Asia, and the Americas unemployment rates are rising as the global economy is currently in the midst of an economic slow down. For example, in the United States the unemployment rate recently has increased from 5.7% in July of 2008 to 6.1% in August of 2008 which now puts the rate above the U.S. historical average unemployment rate of 5.4%.

I want to make clear to all economics’ students across the nation that you have an opportunity to increase your odds of seldom being one of the unemployed in your country’s future statistics. But before I give that advice, let’s first look at the type of person that regularly is unemployed in the United States, which I hold would be true for almost any advanced economy:

• The current 6.1% unemployment rate for the U.S. consists of the following:
• 2.7% unemployment for those with a college degree or advanced degree
• 4.8% unemployment for those with some college but not a full degree
• 15.3% unemployment for those with a high school degree or less

The message is simple in an advanced economy: get as much education as you can! The jobs in today’s advanced economies are clearly biased towards those with advanced educational skills!

Besides teaching Economics, I also teach Personal Finance. When discussing “careers’ in Personal Finance, I suggest to my students that they should be concerned more about majoring in LIFE than majoring in Marketing, History, Education, or Economics. They should also be more concerned about majoring in LIFE than in whether they are ultimately admitted to Virginia Tech University or Duke University. By majoring in LIFE they are more apt to have the best career imaginable, increase their likelihood of never being unemployed, and maximize their chances of promotions throughout their lives!

So, you might be asking, what is the LIFE major?

I’m glad you asked! I was fearful you were no longer reading!

High school students today should ensure they develop 4 key, life skill sets to thrive in their dynamic future, which will include a rate of technological, political, and social change never seen before. Those four key, life skill sets for the future are:

• Leadership
• Interpersonal Skills
• Flexibility
• Emerging Technology Mastery

Leadership. Are you thinking about how you will learn and be trained to be an optimistic (not pessimistic and sarcastic) and confident initiative taker? Having been a member of management for many years, we were always quicker to lay off (made unemployed) those that lacked initiative (“it’s not my job!”) and promote those that positively led others.

Interpersonal Skills. Tomorrow’s careers winners need to better than ever before at teaming with others. The rate of worker specialization is increasing at an exponential rate which necessitates the need to constantly collaborate effectively to get any job done.

Flexibility. Those are not “lifetime learners” or those that do not embrace constant learning will soon be unemployed as the rate of constant change in our globalized world will leave them far behind. Relish change. It is a habit that can be learned!

Emerging Technology Mastery. Embrace, love, and continuously pursue the latest in technology. Tomorrow’s employment and career winners will have “in their blood” the ability to be a technology step ahead of the average worker who is usually a step behind.

Let me let YOU in on a “dirty little secret” known by managers and industry leaders across the globe: when it is time to reduce the work force due to a slowing business, managers get very creative and are biased towards laying off those that have NOT majored in LIFE…whether you went to Virginia Tech or Duke makes little difference in the long run! A major in LIFE today is your best chances of being successful in tomorrow’s world!