介绍： Why today’s graduates are screwed
Pity the ambitious youngster. For decades the path to a nice life was clear: go to university, find a graduate job, then watch the money come in. Today’s hard-working youths, however, seem to have fewer options than before.
Go into tech? The big firms are cutting jobs. How ...

介绍： Why today’s graduates are screwed
Pity the ambitious youngster. For decades the path to a nice life was clear: go to university, find a graduate job, then watch the money come in. Today’s hard-working youths, however, seem to have fewer options than before.
Go into tech? The big firms are cutting jobs. How about the public sector? That is less prestigious than it used to be. Become an engineer? Lots of innovation, from electric vehicles to renewable energy, now happens in China. A lawyer? Artificial intelligence will soon take your job. Don’t even think about becoming a journalist.
Across the West, young graduates are losing their privileged position; in some cases, they have already lost it. Jobs data hint at the change. 
The social and political consequences will be profound. And the trend is not just in America. Across the European Union the unemployment rate of young folk with tertiary education is approaching the overall rate for that age group. Britain, Canada, Japan—all appear to be on a similar path. Even elite youngsters, such as MBA gradates, are suffering. 
Jobs are also less fulfilling. A large survey suggests America’s “graduate satisfaction gap”—how much more likely graduates are to say they are “very satisfied” with their job than non-graduates—is now around three percentage points, down from a long-run advantage of seven.
Is it a bad thing if graduates lose their privileges? Ethically, not really. No group has a right to outperform the average. But practically, it might be. History shows that when brainy people—or people who think they are brainy—do worse than they think they ought to, bad things happen.
Peter Turchin, a scientist at the University of Connecticut, argues that “elite overproduction” has been the proximate cause of all sorts of unrest over the centuries, with “counter elites” leading the charge. Historians identify “the problem of an excess of educated men” as contributing to Europe’s revolutions of 1848, for instance. Luigi Mangione would be a member of the counter-elite. Mr Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, should be living a prosperous life. Instead, he is on trial for the alleged murder of the chief executive of a health insurer. More telling is the degree to which people sympathise with his alienation: Mr Mangione has received donations of well over $1m.
Why are graduates losing their privileges? Maybe the enormous expansion of universities lowered standards. If ivory towers admit less talented applicants, and then do a worse job of teaching them, employers might over time expect fewer differences between the average graduate and average non-graduate. 
Employers have also trimmed jobs in graduate-friendly industries. Across the EU the number of 15-to-24-year-olds employed in finance and insurance fell by 16% from 2009 to 2024. America only has slightly more jobs in “legal services” than in 2006. Until recently, the obvious path for a British student hoping to make money was a graduate scheme at a bank. Since 2016, however, the number of twentysomethings in law and finance has fallen by 10%. 
It is tempting to blame AI for these waning opportunities. The technology looks capable of automating entry-level “knowledge” work, such as filing or paralegal tasks. Yet the trends described in this piece started before ChatGPT came along. Lots of contingent factors are responsible. Many of the industries that traditionally employed graduates have had a tough time of late. Years of subdued activity in mergers and acquisitions have trimmed demand for lawyers. Investment banks are less go-getting than they were before the financial crisis of 2007-09.
So is college worth it? Americans seem to have decided not. From 2013 to 2022 the number of people enrolled in bachelor’s programmes fell by 5%, according to data from the oecd. Yet in most rich countries, where higher education is cheaper because the state plays a larger role, youngsters are still funnelling into universities. Excluding America, enrolment across the OECD rose from 28m to 31m in the decade to 2022. In France the number of students has risen by 36%; in Ireland by 45%. Governments are subsidising useless degrees, encouraging kids to waste time studying.
Students may not be picking the most marketable subjects. Outside America, the share in arts, humanities and social sciences mostly continues to grow. So, inexplicably, does enrolment in journalism courses. If these trends reveal young people’s ideas about the future of work, they truly are screwed.
privilege /ˈprɪvəlɪdʒ/ n. 特权
📚例句：Free coffee is a small workplace privilege.
（免费咖啡是职场小特权）
🔍搭配：lose privilege 失去特权
alienation /ˌeɪliəˈneɪʃn/ n. 疏离感
📚例句：City life caused his alienation from nature.
（城市生活让他与自然疏离）
🔍搭配：social alienation 社会疏离
overproduction /ˌoʊvərprəˈdʌkʃn/ n. 生产过剩
📚例句：Toy overproduction led to price cuts.
（玩具生产过剩引发降价）
🔍搭配：elite overproduction 精英过剩
subsidise /ˈsʌbsɪdaɪz/ v. 补贴
📚例句：The government subsidises solar panel installations.
（政府补贴太阳能板安装）
🔍搭配：subsidise education 补贴教育
trim /trɪm/ v. 削减
📚例句：She trimmed the budget for the party.
（她削减了派对预算）
🔍搭配：trim jobs 裁员
waning /ˈweɪnɪŋ/ adj. 逐渐减弱的
📚例句：His interest in the game is waning.
（他对游戏的兴趣在减弱）
🔍搭配：waning opportunities 减少的机会
paralegal /ˌpærəˈliːɡl/ n. 律师助理
📚例句：As a paralegal, she organises legal files.
（作为律师助理，她整理法律文件）
🔍搭配：paralegal tasks 律师助理工作