In January, six of British Columbia鈥檚 universities reported the province is facing a shortage of skilled workers. The Research Universities鈥� Council of sa国际传媒 has declared that by 2016, the number of sa国际传媒 graduates will not be enough to fill the jobs that require university, college or trades credentials.
The council has made several suggestions to decrease this deficit, such as creating more space for future students and providing more robust student aid. Still, the report estimates that by 2020, nearly 19,000 jobs in our province could be going unfilled, and this number is slated to increase.
That report poked me hard in a tender, bruised place of my soul. While I鈥檓 completely on board with the idea of promoting affordable education for more British Columbians, I鈥檝e just come off a year where I was making minimum wage with a master鈥檚 degree from a first-class university, so I鈥檓 not sure what to make of the news that sa国际传媒 is aching for grads.
This report seems incongruous not only with my lived experience, but with the common wisdom of my peers in academia: While a bachelor鈥檚 degree was a valuable career investment for our parents, for us a bachelor鈥檚 degree is a great way to rack up thousands of dollars worth of debt with no assurance that it will give you an edge in the job market. (A bachelor鈥檚 degree has many values; employability isn鈥檛 necessarily one of them.)
Furthermore, when the recession hit, people went back to school to wait out the drought. Grad-school admissions increased and competition grew fiercer. In 2010, Maclean鈥檚 magazine wrote that 鈥淕etting in [to law school] has never been easy. But now, it鈥檚 nearly impossible,鈥� because of the huge volume of applicants. Do we not now have a fresh wave of recent grads pouring out of these institutions?
If we do, this report suggests, then it鈥檚 not enough to fill the province鈥檚 needs.
I just think it鈥檚 weird, is all.
Last October, the sa国际传媒 government rolled out a campaign to encourage young people to pursue higher education, including the trades, with the slogan: 鈥淗ipster isn鈥檛 a real job.鈥� The aim, I assume, was to encourage lazy, privileged, disaffected scroungers to become productive members of society. But the thing is, I don鈥檛 know any disaffected scroungers. I know disaffected, intelligent, hard-working grads who are looking for work and can鈥檛 find anything beyond bottom-rung service positions or unpaid internships.
The 鈥渉ipster isn鈥檛 a real job鈥� slogan saddens me, because it reveals an enormous misunderstanding about the reality of unemployment for people in the 20-to-25 age range. Furthermore, it betrays a level of cynicism about this generation that I find startling.
By all means, encourage young people to find jobs and careers that will give them new experiences and valuable skills and will help our economy. But please don鈥檛 suggest that because we are failing to find these new experiences, are failing to learn valuable skills, are working jobs that are deeply unfulfilling, that we aren鈥檛 trying.
Trust me. We鈥檙e not failing because we鈥檙e lazy or uneducated or uninterested in employment. My peers are searching and searching and finding nothing. They will take minimum-wage jobs and be grateful, and then change the subject whenever someone asks them what they鈥檙e doing with their lives.
They鈥檙e not unemployed because they鈥檙e too attached to the label 鈥渉ipster鈥� to want 鈥渞eal鈥� jobs. All of the 鈥渞eal鈥� jobs I have ever had, I have gained not on my own merits, but because I knew a person who knew a person. Our merits barely matter and we鈥檙e beginning to accept this.
In a world where we are slowly unlearning the lie that our intelligence, skills and talent will get us places in life, it鈥檚 not too awesome to see ads on the bus telling you that you鈥檙e unemployed because you鈥檙e not trying hard enough.
After earning my MA, I spent 12 months either unemployed or underemployed at part-time, minimum-wage, and none of my peers were surprised, because they were facing the same problems. And I鈥檓 just not sure how to reconcile that picture 鈥� which is not so far in my past that it might not be my future again 鈥� with this latest report and this anxiety over the province鈥檚 ability to provide skilled workers.
They鈥檙e here. I swear they鈥檙e here. Right here in front of you. Please hire them.
