Obama's 2015 Budget May End Sequester

San Antonio, Texas.

Heck, you can get an associates degree in various fields and make 50-60k a year. You just need to know what professions there are that require a basic minimum of knowledge in the field.

Oil Field operators can make 50k a year and not need a degree at all. Construction also. Plumbing can get you about 45k a year with just a certificate.

There are many jobs down here that are available, but it isn't a cushy CEO position, so not that many people are willing to work for it...

Most skilled trades fall into this category, though they often have apprenticeship programs and the like if you plan to be part of the local pipe-layers -- sorry, pipe-fitters -- union or whatever.

What do you do with someone who doesn't want to do a skilled trade, though? I interviewed today to help run the safety department in a factory, which would enlist both my computer and clerical skills along with my array of blue collar work. My woeful little liberal arts degree actually helps a lot with that.

I do wish people would learn the difference between a liberal arts BA and a fine arts BFA, by the way.

In most cases, just having a degree is good enough for grunt work.

Mind you, I highly doubt a CEO out there has a Bachelor's in English as their only degree (maybe a side degree, but not only degree).

BA in English is a starting point. A CEO would very likely go on to pick up a Master's of some nature or another, generally much more specific to his industry or job. And that's the way it ought to be: a bachelor's degree proves you can learn, a master's degree shows what you do best.

It's why pre-law and pre-medicine and bachelor's of business administration are such worthless degrees: if you're going to be serious with those fields, you're going to have to be re-taught once you go to the real school.

And then there's the truly worthless crap. I've met so many people with communications degrees who literally cannot tell me what a communications degree is.

Maybe it's the location. Skilled workers around here, even if they make money commensurate to what I do (they frequently do not), get treated like absolute dogshit.

Can you elaborate? I live in a city that has been declared one of the most intelligent communities on the planet but we have a ton of blue collar work (the city is built around several shipping hubs) and, as someone who does blue collar work, I never hear or see crap, especially not for the *** plumbers making $70k+ a year.

I've got a BA in journalism, secondary major in history.

I actually have one of the jobs KN mentioned where I got my foot in the door via my bachelor's for rank-and-file work.

I can't imagine trying to get a job without a degree or at least technical skills training at this point.

I live in semi-rural Pennsylvania (about 40 miles from Pittsburgh).

Unless you're self-employed, everything around here is shutting down. Employers in construction and similar skilled trades have their choice of workers and the less skilled a job is, the more people are willing to do it, so costs are certainly kept down for employers. Some unions are around, sure, but there's an equal number of people that get paid job-by-job with no job security with no representation.

Edit: also, I quoted the wrong post with that response, but you get the idea.

Edit2: I readily admit my evidence is all anecdotal coming from the people I know, stories from friends and relatives and hearing the stories of those with whom I work. But when no one is saying anything good, that's got to be indicative of something.

Hmm... is that like the Latrobe area or even further out? When I lived in PGH, I dated a guy in Latrobe and that place was basically lots of nothing, poverty, and the Rolling Rock brewery, and that was back in 2001. I wouldn't be surprised that it has gotten worse.

But, yeah, living in a major city seems to be the difference. You won't see high-powered lawyers rubbing shoulders with bricklayers, but both jobs are given due respect.

I have a degrees in feminism it is useless but the women seem to like it.

I minored in racism it pays much more.

Creepy as it is, yes. You hit it spot on. I live in Latrobe. Well, Unity Township. Nice enough place, but ***for jobs for your average Joe. Though, ironically enough, my wife and I live here because our jobs are here.