"there are no STEM jobs but whatever just keep saying STEM because it's Very Serious"

[phantom power]

Talking about structural unemployment is a way for Very Serious People to blame the losers and the moochers for their own plight. They don't have the skills, you see, that The Modern Economy requires because they are losers after all. And, well, there's nothing to be done to help these people. They should have gotten a STEM degree even though there are no STEM jobs but whatever just keep saying STEM because it's Very Serious.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2013/08/structural.html

[MineralMan]

1. That's odd. Every time I look, there are lots of STEM jobs.

And eschatonblog? Really?

Oh, well...anyone can write anything, I suppose, in today's blogosphere.

[postulater]

2. My daughter is having a helluva a time finding an entry level

civil engineering job anywhere nearby.

Graduated in December, had a half dozen interviews, but nothing yet.

[pnwmom]

5. My nephew is a mechanical engineer and it took him a year. I know two new PHD's

who are also having trouble.

The "shortage" is a myth so the employers can higher cheap grads on work VISA's.

[pnwmom]

4. The shortage is a myth. Only half of STEM graduates in the US are able to find STEM jobs.

http://prospect.org/article/stem-shortage-myth

The Economic Policy Institute published a report yesterday on the supposed shortage of professionals in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). You've probably heard of the crisis by now. America is not producing enough STEM degrees. This will be the death of innovation and global competitiveness. We must reorient higher education to convert more liberal arts students into STEM students. And so on.

The problem with this alleged crisis is that it is not real. As the EPI report lays bare, the common wisdom about our STEM problem is mistaken: We are not facing a shortage of STEM-qualified workers. In fact, we appear to have a considerable STEM surplus. Only half of students graduating with a STEM degree are able to find STEM jobs. Beyond that, if there was an actual shortage of STEM workers, basic supply and demand would predict that the wages of STEM workers would be on the rise. Instead, wages in STEM fields have not budged in over a decade. Stagnant wages and low rates of STEM job placement strongly suggest we actually have an abundance of STEM-qualified workers.

The EPI report tends to focus on the relevance of these findings to guest worker programs and other immigration issues. The tech industry has long suggested that it cannot find STEM workers in America and therefore needs immigration changes that will enable it to bring in more workers from abroad. Skeptics have rebuffed that the tech industry really is just interested in cheaper STEM labor and that its proclamations about a dearth of STEM-qualified domestic workers is just a convenient cover story. This report provides ammunition to the latter camp to say the least.

SNIP

[Recursion]

6. I went back to sysadmining after I got an MSEE

There were too many laid off middle aged EEs competing for the same jobs I was trying for.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. i've read/heard this in credible news sources. most people graduating in STEM fields

are not getting jobs in their fields

[customerserviceguy]

8. Ten years ago

I got an associates degree in computer network administration. And what am I doing now? My handle says it all, although I do help my officemates with issues related to the idiot-box HP computers that our IT department didn't stand in the way of the company acquiring. I guess they feel it keeps them employed.

It's like the "common wisdom" fifty years ago, go to medical or law school, and you'll be set up for life. That didn't work out for some doctors, and a hell of a lot of lawyers.

[Taitertots]

9. Please don't fall into the old crazy Reagan way of thinking...

There are "lots of STEM jobs" but way too many people are all trying to get them at the same time.

You are making an erroreous assumption that there enough STEM jobs because you saw a few job openings.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

10. Why are they giving these jobs to foreigners?

That is the real question... But we all know the answer, and we have a long history to back it up... They are cheaper.

[tridim]

11. STEM jobs are plentiful in my midwestern medium-sized city.

I'm getting weekly cold-call job offers again. First time that has happened since 1999.

[SoCalDem]

3. There may be "jobs", but very few CAREER opportunities

Young people graduating these days need CAREER opportunities..not just "jobs or internships".

When you leave college owing tens of thousands of loans to get the degree, you do not have the luxury of accepting low-paid/entry-level teaching positions of fellowships or internships at companies that want free/nearly-free labor.

Companies these days want to hire foreign people who will bunk 12 to a house/work 20-hr days and who never ask for things like benefits & raises.