URGENT: College Students

Sure, economics can be boring. Trade agreements can be even worse. But both of them play a major role in the lives, both present and future, of college students. Trade agreements help determine what kind of job market we have to look forward to, and job placement is the reason we are paying the big bucks to attend Olivet College.

So what does the job market look like? What are the projections over the next ten years. What kind of American job market do we have to look forward to once we graduate? The answers may infuriate you.

Forrest Research has projected what they believe to be the top-10 in-demand jobs for the next ten years. This information is very important for those of us attending college with the idea that the market will be open to the fields we are majoring or minoring in. So what did Forrest Research find? Well, here are the top-10.

1. Waiters and waitresses
2. Janitors and cleaners
3. Food preparation
4. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants
5. Cashiers
6. Customer-service representatives
7. Retail salesperson
8. Registered nursing
9. General and operational managers
10. Postsecondary teachers

Take a closer look at these. Only three of these jobs require a college education, and I don't know of anyone at Olivet College majoring in janitorial services, This is one of those "read em' and weep" moments. The worst part is that these projections are accurate to a fault.

The primary culprits in this scenario are offshoring and outsourcing. Offshoring is where a company closes shop and heads overseas. Outsourcing typically involves a company choosing to hire someone in a foreign country to do the work that would otherwise be done by Americans. These practices used to only impact manufactures, textiles, and other blue-collar jobs. This is no longer the case. So long as someone in Mexico, China, India, or some Third World country is capable of doing the same job Americans can do but at a cheaper cost, offshoring and outsourcing will continue its crusade against the American college student.

American college students should be absolutely infuriated! Most of us aren't going through four years or more of college for the fun of it. Most of us are attending college with the hope and expectation that the American job market will be broad enough for the career we are pursuing. We want to know that there will not only be a demand for our services, but we also anticipate there being a demand for the talents we have to offer. Regretfully, free trade agreements and globalization are making this rather difficult.

Americans college students need to begin fighting the tide of globalization. We should make it very clear to our elected officials that we want an economy that looks after Americans first. Until then, prepare yourself for Walmart, McDonald's, and janitorial services... and good luck paying off your college loans.