50 States + DC + Puerto Rico ranked by minimum hourly wage required to afford 2-bedroom housing

[Jenn! 918]

Open question: Does government have an obligation to make sure the education you pay so much money for, and spend so much time on, is actually marketable?

An obligation? How? By eliminating "useless" majors?

Or by creating jobs with 'good' salaries for the tens of thousands of college grads who feel their degrees did not help in the job market.

Or any other way you can imagine.

Is it up to people to meet market demand or is it up to the government to manipulate the market to meet the demands of the people?

I say it's up to the people to meet market demand. Though I would have loved to major in something that I *really* enjoy, like basket weaving, and be assured of making lots of money, that doesn't really make much sense. What would we do with all the baskets? And essays on post modern art?

What about all the engineering grads who went into it in the 80s because there was such a shortage, only to find their jobs outsourced in the '90s? Or the glut of MBAs now? I do feel a little Schadenfreude (a word that I learned with my useless German major) when I think of business majors saying what I was studying was useless and now many of them cannot find good jobs. There is even a surplus of lawyers now I think. Thse are all pragmatic, hard fields - how does one know what to study these days?

You're right, it can be a ####### shoot.

Though I had a pretty good feeling that my prospects were going to be better as a Math major than my best friend, an Art History major. I may be biased, but I think that in general, you're best sticking with a major that lends itself more to technical fields than to nontechnical ones.

[mawilson 2,133]

You're right, it can be a ####### shoot.

Though I had a pretty good feeling that my prospects were going to be better as a Math major than my best friend, an Art History major. I may be biased, but I think that in general, you're best sticking with a major that lends itself more to technical fields than to nontechnical ones.

Good choice, Jenn. I am a math major myself and doing alright.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

Well then, as long as we have all the immigrants to do our 'less than desireable' jobs, we should be ok then.

Are you kidding? Plumbers make a mint, at least in the UK. Nothing "less than desirable" than earning 70 quid an hour. Of course there's a whole argument that the "polish plumber" is depressing these wages in the UK, and elswhere in the EU. THe debate about how true that might be rages. Of course, the Poles are legal immigrants.

Robin, the question I was trying to raise is whether in the future there will be enough of these individuals.

Well, they are in short supply now hence the fees they can demand. Maybe people who were planning to work as a shoes salesmen need to learn a trade - plumbing.

Let's go back to my original comment, which wasn't just about plumbers. If we can do it without being condescending.

Fifty years from now, who is going to be doing the necessary 'infrastructure' work a society needs if everybody is trained for service work?

Where is the condescension? There certainly is none from me.

Maybe people need to learn a skilled trade instead of preparing to do badly-paid service work. I would advise young people to do so- in fact, my nephew in Kent trained to be a plumber and everyone congratulated him on such a wise career choice.

I know a highly educated person (college degree from University of Michigan) who was working as a TV producer - a job perceived to be glamorous, though very insecure and for the first 10 years or so quite badly paid. He jacked it all in and re-trained as an electrician, started his own business, is now making twice as much money, bought a house, got married and is now thinking of starting a family.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Open question: Does government have an obligation to make sure the education you pay so much money for, and spend so much time on, is actually marketable?

An obligation? How? By eliminating "useless" majors?

Or by creating jobs with 'good' salaries for the tens of thousands of college grads who feel their degrees did not help in the job market.

Or any other way you can imagine.

Is it up to people to meet market demand or is it up to the government to manipulate the market to meet the demands of the people?

I say it's up to the people to meet market demand. Though I would have loved to major in something that I *really* enjoy, like basket weaving, and be assured of making lots of money, that doesn't really make much sense. What would we do with all the baskets? And essays on post modern art?

What about all the engineering grads who went into it in the 80s because there was such a shortage, only to find their jobs outsourced in the '90s? Or the glut of MBAs now? I do feel a little Schadenfreude (a word that I learned with my useless German major) when I think of business majors saying what I was studying was useless and now many of them cannot find good jobs. There is even a surplus of lawyers now I think. Thse are all pragmatic, hard fields - how does one know what to study these days?

You're right, it can be a ####### shoot.

Though I had a pretty good feeling that my prospects were going to be better as a Math major than my best friend, an Art History major. I may be biased, but I think that in general, you're best sticking with a major that lends itself more to technical fields than to nontechnical ones.

or at least augmenting a liberal arts degree it with a "useful" minor. I majored in English (and MA in literature - completely useless, though I loved doing it), but minored in statistics - although my job now is "creative," having math skills has certainly helped throughout my career. (though I know a lot of liberal arts people who have done just fine)

[Imua 0]

My problem is that I really suck in math - I actually wanted to study biology when I was younger but was not able to hack any math classes beyond algebra and geometry, and even that was a struggle. I think there are a lot of people in the same boat as me, especially women - I have an idea many(like me, who didn't listen ) were told to go to law school because it is maybe the one 'big money' job you can do if you have poor math skills - hence the current lawyer glut.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think part of the problem here as well is not so much jobs but housing inflation. Obviously, certain places will always be expensive due to high demand, but here in LA you could have bought a nice 2-bedroom condo in a good area with good schools on the wages in Troll's original article (about $50k) only 5 years ago (what effect rising housing prices have on rent is debatable), not so much any more - someone on double that income would struggle to find some place suitable that they could afford.

This of course could all change in a few years.

[Heracles 417]

I noticed the median price in LA dropped to $385K.. lol rkl57. Sydney's is now $505K

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I noticed the median price in LA dropped to $385K.. lol rkl57. Sydney's is now $505K

If you can find me a house in LA for $385k in a nice area, I would sing hosannahs and start a "Boo Yah for mod campaign." As it stands that will get you a 1-bed condo near the Fox Hills mall.

there's a housing bubble in Australia too - they will not be immune to the credit crunch

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Australia still runs on barter. They don't use credit.

You can get a home in Sydney for 2 mules and a slave girl.

[Heracles 417]

I noticed the median price in LA dropped to $385K.. lol rkl57. Sydney's is now $505K

If you can find me a house in LA for $385k in a nice area, I would sing hosannahs and start a "Boo Yah for mod campaign." As it stands that will get you a 1-bed condo near the Fox Hills mall.

there's a housing bubble in Australia too - they will not be immune to the credit crunch

The house prices there have not inflated artificially. Therefore they can support those prices. Every man and his dog has a job there. Demand from China and India is strong.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The Sydney Morning Herald has an entire page dedicated to the Housing Bubble

http://www.smh.com.au/specials/housingbubble/index.html

[panamania79 2]

I can tell you what happened

[panamania79 2]

Australia still runs on barter. They don't use credit.

You can get a home in Sydney for 2 mules and a slave girl.

And in India you can't.Come on now Mr. Troll.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Small towns and rural areas just do not support a job market that is diverse enough for everyone to work in jobs that pay a livable wage. My argument is that there needs to be less of an income disparity between those jobs and typical minimum wage jobs when the current federal minimum wage puts those workers at poverty level. If local economies had survived in the past, what has happened to them now?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

My argument is that there needs to be less of an income disparity between those jobs and typical minimum wage jobs

Your argument is some people's services should be compensated more than they're actually worth?