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VOA慢速英语--大学毕业后的未来不再明朗

时间:2019-09-22 18:48:12

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Post-College Path No Longer So Clear

The path one takes after earning a degree from a college or university in the United States is not as clear as it once was.

Two new studies suggest that college graduates entering the U.S. job market may not work in the field they expect. And these men and women may change jobs and even industries more often than their parents ever did.

Some experts say this both presents new difficulties and opens up new possibilities in an economy that is going through changes.

The first study is from Emsi, a company specializing in labor1 market research. The company released the findings last month.

The Emsi study was based on an examination of the job histories of about 125 million Americans. Researchers looked at the first three jobs of individuals who completed four-year degree programs in six fields. The six were languages and philosophy, the social sciences, business, communications, engineering, and information technology.

The study found that many of the graduates started out working in the field they studied in college. For example, 20 percent of engineering graduates worked in industrial or mechanical engineering for their first job. Yet by their third job, many were working in a completely unrelated field. Advertising2, sales, and financial research were among the top 10 job outcomes, or results, for all six groups.

In fact, about 54 percent of all job outcomes in the study were some form of business operations.

Clare Coffey is a data researcher and writer for Emsi. She told VOA that the study does not speak to the outcomes for college students in every field. But the fact that the six fields in the study are so different and yet had similar outcomes does suggest career paths have changed overall.

“A lot of the way we think about work and education … is still … like, ‘The jobs are scientists and writer and teacher;’ sort of this ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ way of thinking about jobs,” said Coffey. “But the areas where there’s tons of demand and tons of growth are … being able to communicate about products for companies and also oversee3 the process by which they’re distributed.”

Coffey noted4 an important detail to consider is that in fields like the hard sciences, such as chemistry, it is easier to explain what skills your education has given you. So colleges and universities need to better explain to philosophy students, for example, the value in the skills they gain, such as written communication and forming arguments. Then graduates can better demonstrate their value as they move from one field to another.

Edwin Koc argues that changing jobs and even fields is something the current generation of college students will deal with more in the future. Koc is the director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. He noted that his daughter, who graduated from college in 2014, has held four different jobs to date. He graduated in 1973 and has held the same number of jobs since then.

Part of the reason for this is that the current U.S. job market is very strong. This means that if people are unhappy with their current position, it will likely be easy for them to find a job with better pay, Koc said. Younger workers also have less of a connection to their employers as they have seen growing limitations on financial benefits and even job security.

“They’ve gone through growing up during a period when their parents may have found themselves … losing their jobs or at risk of losing their jobs, during the Great Recession. And they’re carrying that over with them: a skepticism about what an employer will do on their behalf,” said Koc.

He suggested that employers also have power in the current labor market. As technology changes, the skills a person possesses upon graduating often become outdated5 within six years. And employers have more skilled workers to choose from than ever before, meaning almost anyone can be replaced.

This lack of straightforwardness6 in career paths does not just affect graduates of four-year degree programs, says Hironao Okahana. He is associate vice7 president for research and policy analysis at the Council of Graduate Schools.

Okahana and Koc agree that in the past, the job outcomes for those with a doctoral degree, or PhD, were much clearer. PhDs require an intense level of expertise8 – so much expertise that most PhD holders10 once were almost guaranteed jobs as university professors or researchers.

In July, the Council of Graduate Studies released a study looking at the job outcomes for over 4,700 PhD holders. All of the subjects had graduated either three, eight or 15 years ago. Overall, few Phd holders who graduated 15 years ago changed jobs recently, and most found their current jobs within three years of graduating.

This was not the case for PhD holders who graduated eight years ago, and was even less likely for those who graduated in the last three years. Also, the majority of career moves for these two groups were away from higher education and into business, government and non-profit industries.

Okahana said this means that by no means should a PhD holder9 consider their first job as a permanent move. It also means that they now have the chance to work in fields that they may never have considered before. But because of this, they must try to develop as many skills that are useful in different fields as they can.

“Some of the … broader skills become important, which sort of points to … post-secondary education not just as … workforce11 development or job preparation but more … education for the whole human,” said Okahana.

He, Edwin Koc and Clare Coffey all said they agree that colleges and universities must support students’ ability to grow and change. They should do this by urging students to take classes outside their usual field of study and seek out early work experience in areas of interest to them. Employers should look to fill positions with individuals who might not have studied the subjects normally expected for those jobs.

I’m Jill Robbins.

And I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

degree – n. an official document and title that is given to someone who has successfully completed a series of classes at a college or university

graduate(s) – n. a person who has earned a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

distribute(d) – v. to give or deliver something to people

benefit(s) – n. something extra, such as vacation time or health insurance, that is given by an employer to workers in addition to their regular pay

skepticism – n. an attitude of doubting the truth of something, such as a claim or statement

on (their) behalf – n. as a representative of someone

outdated – adj. no longer useful or acceptable

replace(d) – v. to put someone or something new in the place or position of someone or something

doctoral degree – n. the highest degree that is given by a university

post-secondary – adj. of or relating to education after high school


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
2 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
3 oversee zKMxr     
vt.监督,管理
参考例句:
  • Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
  • Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。
4 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
5 outdated vJTx0     
adj.旧式的,落伍的,过时的;v.使过时
参考例句:
  • That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了,许多地址已经改了。
  • Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。
6 straightforwardness Fhoz2v     
n.坦白,率直
参考例句:
  • They were impressed by his sincerity and straightforwardness. 他的诚恳直率给他们留下了很深的印象。
  • What some people take for rudeness is really straightforwardness. 一些人所认为的无礼实际上却是直率的表现。
7 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
8 expertise fmTx0     
n.专门知识(或技能等),专长
参考例句:
  • We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
  • You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。
9 holder wc4xq     
n.持有者,占有者;(台,架等)支持物
参考例句:
  • The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
  • That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。
10 holders 79c0e3bbb1170e3018817c5f45ebf33f     
支持物( holder的名词复数 ); 持有者; (支票等)持有人; 支托(或握持)…之物
参考例句:
  • Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
  • It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识,才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事,同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。
11 workforce workforce     
n.劳动大军,劳动力
参考例句:
  • A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
  • A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

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