Now, let me start off by saying that these thoughts aren’t necessarily
aimed towards the public, but rather to those graduating college – more specifically
the University of Michigan crowd.
I want to ask you one question – for the next 3 years post-graduation,
would you prefer unemployment, or underemployment? I understand that there are
numerous factors built into the answer, whether it’s if you have a safety net
in living with parents, or some trust fund, or whatever to help answer your
question. That is the beauty of the answer – variability in that there isn’t one
solid answer in it, and because of that I cannot necessarily claim that one is better
than the other for all of the United States and I argue that the government
cannot say one is worse than the other because contexts are quite different.
Now from all that I have heard regarding both sides, I am
surely to state that I personally would rather be underemployed. As much as my
ego would be damaged, I feel that having a paycheck is better than having
nothing. There is a difference between having an entry level, crap job at a
large firm than having a job as a barista – the former has an opportunity to
perhaps move up in the level. That would be a better possibility than working in
the latter.
I have been offered (what I think are entry level) job
positions at large tech firms, but I turned it down because of my ego. Now I
slightly regret it but my psychological barriers got in the way. And that is
how it is for many college grads. We believe we deserve much better – and as a
U of M grad, I feel I deserved much better than the other potential employees.
I looked at their backgrounds and a lot of them graduated from schools I have
never really heard of. Does my educational background, albeit in a liberal arts
area, not count for anything?
Unemployment, for me would cause just as much psychological
damage to me. Studies have shown that there are many detrimental side effects
that come with unemployment. Even in class, we talked about unemployment having
a large impact on married couples. I think about the public health issues as
well, because at least with underemployment there is a possibility of having
health care paid for, or being closer to having it. With unemployment, that
chance is slim. Having no health care is another concern of its own.
Underemployment in my mind isn’t that bad for the employee.
I believe it’s the employers fault for hiring over-qualified employees that
have the possibility of leaving once they find a better job. And in that case,
I would modify my resume to perhaps get that low-level job first instead of
trying to reach as high as I possibly can. At the end of the day, I believe
starting from somewhere is better than not starting at all.
I definitely agree that the answer to your question will vary based on personal contexts. I think it's a really important question to ask, and it's refreshing to hear someone acknowledging the fact that underemployment may not be better than unemployment.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I think being underemployed would be better. However, it would depend on the job. I'll use your entry-level position vs. barista scenario as an example. Based on my personal "safety net" and level of education, I would rather be unemployed than take the barista job. This may sound entitled, but it's actually motivated more by logic than by pride. If I were to take a job as a barista where, like you said, I would have no opportunity for advancement, it might be difficult to leave. I also wouldn't be gaining much experience relevant to other, higher level jobs I would want to apply for in the future. Though I wouldn't be making any money without the job, my "safety net" would probably take care of me until I could find a better one. This is a huge privilege, but I don't see why I wouldn't take advantage of it if it's available to me.
This poses the question that I asked in class again: Is entitlement all that bad if it's not hurting anyone? Or in this case, is it hurting anyone?
Having also just graduated, the puzzling underemployment vs. unemployment issue has also crossed my mind. I mean, would I rather be unemployed or underemployed? [obviously given the option between just those two]
ReplyDeleteI, like you, allow my ego to guide my decisions in this case, because at the end of the day I'd rather be bringing home a paycheck from a firm or an office who underutilizes my current skills than sitting on my couch at home thinking I'm "overly qualified" for such jobs--especially in today's job market, which we all know to be not-so-graduate-friendly. However, there are also days where I look back and ask myself why I worked as a lifeguard one summer, rather than seeking an internship that would likely have been far out of my reach as a college sophomore. I suppose what I mean to say by this is that to some degree, I find my ego to be justified in saying, "I might just be too 'good' for this job, but whatever I'll take it because I need to be working." However, my ego as a recent graduate from UofM does step in sometimes to remind me that some positions are, in fact, out of reach.
I think that part of the unemployment problem can sometimes be the fact that a certain subset of job-seekers consider themselves "too qualified" for many of the jobs that they are offered and end up turning down. For that time, they are considered unemployed. This indicates that while many are unemployed because they lack education, resources, connections, etc., some are unemployed because they are simply too picky. I suppose my question in response to this concept is, "is there some linkage between underemployment and unemployment? If so, is it largely driven by economics or personal/egotistical decisions?