JAY VERSPEELT — The Lance (University of Windsor)

WINDSOR (CUP) — The future for upcoming graduates is bleak.

In March, during a CBC town hall meeting, University of Windsor President Alan Wildeman said that the purpose of university is higher education and not necessarily employment.

Unfortunate news for those hoping to get an edge on the competition, but a university education is not the ticket to prosperity that it once was.

“If you have more people with higher qualifications, they’re going to raise the entry level. No one is ever going to advertise a job anymore where they didn’t throw a BA in right away,” said University of Windsor coordinator of interdisciplinary programs Larry Kulisek.

The populace is more educated than ever before and still not educated enough.

“If you do an honours in psychology it doesn’t make you a psychiatrist, psychologist or even a counselor, because if you don’t do an MA or graduate work you’re an educated person but that doesn’t slot you in, and most professions are requiring more training,” said Kulisek.

Generation Y has been called narcissistic, entitled and lacking in work ethic, yet today many young workers find themselves in unpaid internships or underemployed doing the same work they used to do whilst in school. Can youth really be considered unrealistic for wanting decent pay instead of making lattes or dunking fries in scalding oil?

In July, employees at a Halifax Second Cup started trying to unionize — a move prompted by the lack of real fieldwork for its staff.

“Job security is basically gone,” said Christian Trudeau, University of Windsor professor of economics. “There’s more risk now when you start a career. The days of knowing you’re going to go into a job and work there for 30 to 40 years, those days are almost gone.”

Canada has fared better than many countries since the recession and natural resources have played a large factor in this. Australia has likewise maintained itself economically due to coal exports. Individuals from all over have gone to Alberta to make a quick buck on an oilrig. It’s high paying, manual labour, but hardly conducive to a higher education.

“There’s no reason we should have these jobs and no one else should. Sure it’s tough for these workers and for our economy but at the same time workers get worse but consumers are much better off,” said Trudeau. “It’s always been a challenge to coordinate the formation of graduates with the needs of the economy — especially now with everything changing so fast. Everything is dependant on the world market.”

So what are grads to do these days? The education can’t be negated or just tossed aside carelessly. Instead everyone has to work harder, work longer, and work more efficiently while earning less with no job security.

Although unemployment is currently on the decline — 8.7 per cent in August of 2009 at its highest and now 7.1 per cent nationally as of June — the federal government is looking to tackle getting more skilled trades persons into the workforce by possibly making companies give apprenticeship training when they bid for government contracts or by tax credits.

“The politicians… say we need more mould and tool makers, [which is] fine, maybe in the short run,” said Kulisek, adding further that “The colleges tend to draw from the local area but how many skilled tradesmen can be absorbed into the local area?”

So the question is where are the jobs and what should students be studying?

“It’s always been a challenge to coordinate the formation of graduates with the needs of the economy,” said Trudeau. “With natural resources everything is dependant on the world market, a mine that is profitable now may not be six months later.”

St. Clair College journalism student Sean Previl is unfazed by the challenges of low employment facing his trade.

“It’s really going to be a matter of just choosing what suits me best and also how I can help them,” said Previl. “I don’t look at internships with regards to how they help me, I want to make sure I’m going to contribute to their network to the best of my ability.”

Unfortunately, at least in the U.S., data shows that unpaid internships have a 1.8 per cent higher rate of employment than those who never interned at all, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

“I plan to make sure I’m educated when doing [contract negotiating]. And since an average base appears to be around the $35,000 to $40,000 range, that may be what I ask for,” said Previl.

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Graphic: Stephanie Mah