In the comments of R.R. Reno’s recent article on the best graduate theology programs, several readers are discussing the possibilities of finding work once the degree is completed. The Chronicle of Higher Education has the answer: you can become a janitor.
Putting issues of student abilities aside, the growing disconnect between labor market realities and the propaganda of higher-education apologists is causing more and more people to graduate and take menial jobs or no job at all. This is even true at the doctoral and professional level—there are 5,057 janitors in the U.S. with Ph.D.’s, other doctorates, or professional degrees.
The article also notes that:
Over 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees (over 8,000 of them have doctoral or professional degrees), along with over 80,000 bartenders, and over 18,000 parking lot attendants. All told, some 17,000,000 Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that the BLS says require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor’s degree. [emphasis in original]
I suspect a lot of those people, though, are preparing for graduate study. Once they get their PhD they’ll be able to get a job as . . . oh, um, never mind.
(Although it should go without saying, I’ll say it anyway: There is nothing wrong with being a janitor, a waitress, or any other God-honoring, people serving work. But obviously your prospects of making a good living with such a job are significantly reduced if you’re saddled with a student loan debt from grad school.)
October 27th, 2010 | 11:06 am
It would be interesting to see the field breakdown of the janitors’ doctorates. What percentage are in mathematics, physics, engineering, literature, sociology, women’s studies, black studies, peace studies, communications, etc.
October 27th, 2010 | 12:01 pm
This seems to stretch credibility just a bit. Highly educated people cannot find anything but jobs for which almost no education is necessary? There’s nothing in the middle? Editors, proof readers, newsletter writers, high school teachers, youth ministers, counselors? Employers must be interested in hiring people who have proven themselves capable of rigorous study, critical thinking and effective writing. No?
October 27th, 2010 | 12:28 pm
I’ve talked to waiters/waitresses with master’s degrees about this sort of thing, and they all agree that waiting on tables at upscale restaurants provides them with much more income—and flexibility—than they would have otherwise.
October 27th, 2010 | 12:30 pm
Bill,
My prediction is that the percentage of doctorates in mathematics, physics, engineering and life sciences would be much lower than the the social sciences and humanities.
(And this is from a defender of a liberal arts education)…
October 27th, 2010 | 12:36 pm
I also knew a middle-aged teacher, many years ago, who quit his job at a Christian middle school to become the school’s janitor so that he could get a pay raise and better support his family. And no, I’m not making this up.
October 27th, 2010 | 12:38 pm
I agree with Bill. That WOULD be an interesting thing to see.
October 27th, 2010 | 12:46 pm
I’d like to know how many of them are immigrants. Here in Canada, it is not unusual for immigrants from India and China to have graduate and doctorate level education, but who can’t find appropriate employment because of language barriers, and different rules on certification and licensing.
I used to work at a restaurant where the dishwasher was an MD from China.
October 27th, 2010 | 1:26 pm
[...] The answer: you can become a janitor. [...]
October 27th, 2010 | 2:11 pm
How many of those waiters and waitresses and parking lot attendants are doing part-time or teachers doing summer work for extra cash or even something to do?
I have a relative with a college degree who tends bar. Oh, but wait, she teaches elementary school, too.
The immigrant thing is another good angle, as well. Very often foreign credentials are not accepted, especially in the medical fields.
And then there are grad students, as well.
I don’t know if this is still the case, but 20 or so years ago, Pennsylvania road crews used to be crawling with people with bachelor’s and even master’s degrees. They were teachers, working construction over the summer.
October 27th, 2010 | 2:25 pm
My son has an undergraduate degree in theology. He did it because it interested him. He also got an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering. We called it a wing and a prayer.
Why does every degree we earn have to result in a job? When did universities become trade schools? This, in my estimation, is the primary reason we can no longer call ourselves an educated nation.
October 27th, 2010 | 2:47 pm
Well, I have a PhD, and I have always thought of ‘parking lot attendant’ as a pretty appealing job. I imagine that attendants could sit in the booth all day and read. And they don’t even have to wear pants.
It was the low pay that deterred me from pursuing this line of work seriously.
October 27th, 2010 | 3:34 pm
Pentamom offers some good explanations of the numbers. Also not reported in the article are people who had some life-changing factor unrelated to their education – a physical or mental illness, criminal or drug involvement…
…or retirement from their previous field of employment. Adds up.
October 27th, 2010 | 4:08 pm
There are other issues as well. In the humanities, there are more Ph.D’s than there are jobs for Ph.D’s. And the prospect doesn’t look like it will improve any time soon. Because of this trend, teaching positions which used to require Master’s degrees are now being filled by Ph.D.’s who can’t find tenure-track positions.
Of my closest friends from graduate school, exactly one (1) has a tenure-track job in her field at a reputable school. One, against his better judgment, took a job because it was the best offer he got (and is regretting it). One, after a series of one-year contracts, accepted a job which is mostly administration, one is doing adjunct work, and one is a substitute teacher. All four have Ph.D.’s from one of the universities mentioned R.R. Reno’s original article.
Thomas H. Benton has published two articles in the Chronicles of Higher Education on this very subject:
http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Graduate-School-a-Cult-/44676/
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846/
I recommend them both.
October 27th, 2010 | 4:23 pm
A note for DWiss, please don’t encourage people with PhDs to flood the already crowded fields of editing, proof reading, newsletter writing, teaching, and counseling. As a copy editor with a B.A. in Journalism, I assure you that there are plenty of qualified ex-journalists waiting to fill those roles. I can even name a classmate who has perused each occupation you listed.
October 27th, 2010 | 7:23 pm
I have an acquaintance working on a MA in theology and planning to continue to the doctorate. I’ve been trying to gently make her aware of the employment prospects, but she is bright, a very good student, and doing theology seems to make her happy. So I don’t want to crush her spirit, either.
Why is the world such a harsh place?
October 27th, 2010 | 11:32 pm
There is a glut of Ph.d’s right now, that much is certain, and such degrees no longer make sense in fields where the expectation is to go directly into a professorate. That Ponzi scheme has already collapsed.
October 28th, 2010 | 2:36 am
DWiss: I suspect one reason why graduates end up in menial jobs rather than mid-level ones is this: no-one is going to worry about someone being overqualified for a menial job. In a mid-level job there will always be the fear of mid-level managers that a new hire who is overqualified may at some point successfully compete for their job.
October 28th, 2010 | 5:14 am
[...] thought it was odd to find an article about myself on First Things this [...]
October 28th, 2010 | 8:22 am
“Because of this trend, teaching positions which used to require Master’s degrees are now being filled by Ph.D.’s who can’t find tenure-track positions.”
Yup. Almost all of our new humanities hires (I teach at a community college) have PhDs when a Master’s is what’s required.
I think most end up happier at CCs anyway. You make as much money, get as good benefits, don’t have to publish and unless you really screw up, you get tenure.
AND, since most academics are lefty egalitarians, you actually live out your principles.
October 28th, 2010 | 9:06 am
The word “janitor” means a “door keeper. Andre Bessette was a door keeper for over four decades – he was canonized last Sunday. Alfonso Rodriguez was a door keeper and Hopkins wrote a sonnet in his honor. Solanaus Casey, the Capuchin friar, was a door keeper in Detroit for two decades during the Deprssion and nearly 60,000 people came to his funeral.
Let us not put down door keepers aka janitors.
October 28th, 2010 | 2:40 pm
Those who have a doctorate in physics, chemistry or mathematics have also trouble foinding a job these days, both in academia and industry.
It is not as bad as for non-scientific fields, but still the crisis is felt by scientists and mathematicians as well.
October 28th, 2010 | 4:44 pm
Americans will not pay for more than they think necessary. While a PhD looks classy on the bulletin board, it’s not seen as particularly useful. The general understanding is that after all, anyone can read the Bible and one’s personal interpretation is as good as, if not better than any another. Besides, PhDs tend to be hard to control, so the less education in the pulpit the better. I gave up after too long in the pulpit and too much study beyond my MDiv, and am now happily saying mass as a Benedictine Monk.
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