The U.S. Overqualification Crisis
Why the United States is looking to Germany for answers on higher education.
Credit: Hxdbzxy (Shutterstock.com)
Takeaways
- More than 40% of Germans become apprentices, while only 0.3% of the U.S. labor force does.
1. With a push in recent decades to increase the number of college graduates, the result is now that the U.S. labor force is overqualified.
2. Almost half of Americans with a college degree are in jobs that do not require one.
3. Fifteen percent of taxi drivers in the United States have a college degree, up from 1% in 1970.
4. Likewise, 25% of sales clerks in the United States are college graduates, compared to 5% in 1970.
5. While more than 40% of Germans become apprentices, moving into the vocational education stream from the age of 16, only 0.3% of the U.S. labor force does.
From Why the US is looking to Germany by Edward Luce (Financial Times)
