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I have to agree, but hesitantly. In my city, a college degree will qualify you for exactly the same jobs as a high school diploma. B'ham is an anomaly with empty desks sitting for months and years because there are more jobs than applicants. If you can type 35 wpm and conduct yourself professionally, the Univ of Ala B'ham is looking for you!
Meanwhile, it is next to impossible to find skilled laborers, because the entire population is extending childhood by staying in school as long as possible. I could not get any contractor to take my bathroom remodel job, so I ended up doing it myself. My own brother-in-law is a contractor, but he could not do it because he has so many large jobs in his book. I want a plumber to replace some old pipes under my house, and when we finally found one who would accept a small job, it has been a 3 week wait. He is supposed to come tomorrow, but so are more tornadoes, so it may be more weeks of waiting.
All this to finally ramble around to my point, which is that in my area, there is a shortage of skilled laborers. There is even a TV commercial about it! Mike Rowe, the loveable handyman on"Dirty Jobs" and the Ford commercials, and pretty much everything right now, is doing the commercial, saying that in Ala, plumbers and electricians and so forth start out earning $25 per hour, and why not skip college for a job paying more than college grads make?
My other Brother-in-law lost his job in a pipe mill last year when the factory closed. It took several months for him to find a job. But just last evening when they were at my house, he said that he is getting a big raise. He got another job offer, but when he gave his notice, they countered with a bunch more money and a future running the machine maintenane dept of the new 2nd plant that his company is building. All this with a trade school high school co-op educ. And 30 years experience. He always earned more than Tim and I combined.
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