Gender gap in U.S. pay narrows
STATE'S DISPARITY AMONG SMALLEST, BUT SILICON VALLEY IS AN EXCEPTION
By Mike SwiftMercury News
Article Launched: 08/27/2008 01:30:50 AM PDT
The national earnings gap between full-time working men and women, according to a new report, is now the smallest in history. And California had the second-smallest gender gap in pay among the 50 states.
Full-time female workers in the United States now earn 78 percent of what their male counterparts earn, up from 77 percent last year, according to new data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. In California, women earn 84 percent of what men earn, slightly behind Vermont.
Researchers, who for years have been watching the flood of women earning university degrees without a significant closing of the pay gap between men and women, said the narrowing of the gap in 2007 could be significant.
"It's very promising," said gender researcher Vicky Lovell, acting research director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "It is just one year, but it does suggest that women's efforts to get more education, and to be even more committed to employment, may be paying off."
In Santa Clara County, however, where a recent University of California-Davis study found the state's lowest share of women in the top ranks of big companies, the male-female earnings gap remained stubbornly high. Women earned just 65 percent of men's earnings in 2007 - equal to Louisiana, the state with the second-largest gender gap.
Wendy Beecham, who runs the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Palo Alto, a sponsor of the UC-Davis
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study, said there is probably a connection between women's absence from the chief executive suite and lower pay.
"In Silicon Valley, you've got that technology aspect, but it's still a male-dominated field," Beecham said. "It's changing, but it's going to take time. There are more women graduates now, but they are young women and they are just entering the workforce. I think within five years things will be very different."
The fresh earnings data was part of the U.S. Census Bureau's annual unveiling of fresh income and poverty statistics for the nation, for each of the 50 states, and for America's biggest cities and counties.
The findings for 2007 include the following:
• San Jose held its spot as one of the most affluent big cities in America. With a median household income of $76,963, San Jose ranked second only to much smaller Plano, Texas.
• Santa Clara County passed Marin County in 2007 to become - among large and mid-size counties - the one with the highest median household income in California, at $84,360. Santa Clara ranked 10th among large U.S. counties, with the top household income on the West Coast.
• California enjoyed a 2.8 percent growth in median household income after inflation from 2006 to 2007, to $59,948, modestly higher than the nation's 1.9 percent inflation-adjusted growth.
A slowing economy could significantly worsen the picture for 2008.
"We're concerned that the data we're seeing today reflect a high-water mark," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a think tank that focuses on low-income Californians. "The indicators for 2008 suggest that a year from now the income and poverty data will be much grimmer for California."
Deborah Reed, an economist with the Public Policy Institute of California, said even robust median incomes in cities like San Jose and San Francisco are partly a function of the high costs of living.
"People earning low amounts for doing housekeeping or landscaping or for busing dishes, they might not live in the city of San Jose, because it's a high-cost area," she said.
Mayor Chuck Reed said San Jose needs to create more manufacturing jobs, such as through its efforts to lure electric-car maker Tesla Motors.
"We know the economy has continued to grow with jobs at the top and at the bottom" of the wage scale, Reed said Tuesday. "Where we're weak is in the middle. That's one reason why we're excited about the opportunity with Tesla."
The gender gap in the United States has narrowed significantly since 1980, when women earned 60 cents for each dollar men earned.
"What's closing the gap is men's relatively flat earnings over time, and women's rising earnings," said Chuck Nelson, assistant chief of the Census Bureau's economic characteristics division. "Men's earnings now are really no different than they were in the early '70s in real terms."
Researchers say a host of sociological and economic forces have kept the paycheck gap between men and women from closing, including that women and men still cluster in different occupations, which have disparate pay rates. Women in computer and mathematical occupations earned 86 percent of their male counterparts in 2007, according to census data.
Beecham said some Silicon Valley companies such as Intuit, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems are realizing that with a majority of college degrees being earned by women, their future growth is tied to attracting female talent.
"This is not just an HR issue and a diversity issue," Beecham said. "It's a revenue and a talent pool issue."
Contact Mike Swift at mswift@mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3648.
2008/08/29
2008/08/05
starting pay survey
Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting Payby Sarah E. Needleman
Friday, August 1, 2008provided by
Where people go to college can make a big difference in starting pay, and that difference is largely sustained into midcareer, according to a large study of global compensation.In the yearlong effort, PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, surveyed 1.2 million bachelor's degree graduates with a minimum of 10 years of work experience (with a median of 15.5 years). The subjects hailed from more than 300 U.S. schools ranging from state institutions to the Ivy League, and their incomes show that the subject you major in can have little to do with your long-term earning power. PayScale excluded survey respondents who reported having advanced degrees, including M.B.A.s, M.D.s and J.D.s.More from WSJ.com:
throughout their careers, their incomes grow at almost the same rate, according to the survey. For instance, the median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates -- and at 10 or more years into graduates' working lives, the spread is 34%, according to the survey.One reason why Ivy Leaguers outpace their peers may be that they tend to choose roles where they're either managing or providing advice, says David Wise, a senior consultant at Hay Group Inc., a global management-consulting firm based in Philadelphia. By contrast, state-school graduates gravitate toward individual contributor and support roles. "Ivy Leaguers probably position themselves better for job opportunities that provide them with significant upside," says Mr. Wise, adding that this is the first survey he's seen that correlates school choice to a point later in a career.Also, more Ivy League graduates go into finance roles than graduates of other schools, and employers pay a premium for them, says Peter Cappelli, a professor of management and director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "Dartmouth kids get paid more for the same job than kids from Rutgers are [doing]," he says.Which school pays off the most? According to the survey, graduates of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League college, earn the highest median salary -- $134,000.
Of all Ivy League graduates surveyed, those from Columbia earn the lowest midcareer median salary -- $107,000. Meanwhile, the highest-paid liberal-arts-school graduates, from Bucknell University, earn slightly more -- $110,000.Mr. Wise called the data thought-provoking. "These results, to some extent, confirm suspicions that many people have about the importance of a person's college choice in giving them better pay opportunities down the line," says Mr. Wise. "What we still don't know is whether or not it's the training or education the school provides that drives these pay differences, or if the people from those schools are just wired to self-select into jobs that are likely to be paid more."The survey also looked at how much salaries increased over time. Liberal-arts-school graduates see their median total compensation grow by 95% after about 10 years, to $89,379 from $45,747. Meanwhile, graduates of "party schools" (as defined by the 2008 Princeton Review College Guide) aren't that far behind, with their incomes increasing 85% during that time to $84,685 from $45,715.At the bottom: Engineering-school grads, who earn the highest starting salaries, yet see their paychecks expand just 76% by their career midpoints to $103,842 from $59,058.Contrary to what many parents tell their children majoring in subjects like political science or philosophy, these degrees won't necessarily leave you in the poorhouse. It can depend on what career path you choose to pursue with that degree. History-majors-turned-business-consultants earn a median total compensation of $104,000, similar to their counterparts who pursued a business major like economics -- whose grads earn about $98,000 overall at midcareer, the PayScale study shows.English majors in all career paths who graduate from Harvard University earn a median starting salary of $44,500, compared with $35,000 for those with English degrees from Ohio State University -- a 27% difference. And that disparity widens even more after 10 years. By then, English majors from Harvard reported earning $103,000 in median pay, 111% more than their counterparts from Ohio State."With a liberal art's degree, it's what you make of it," says Al Lee, director of qualitative analysis at PayScale. "If you're motivated by income, then there are certainly careers in psychology that pay as well as careers out of engineering."Copyrighted, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
Friday, August 1, 2008provided by
Where people go to college can make a big difference in starting pay, and that difference is largely sustained into midcareer, according to a large study of global compensation.In the yearlong effort, PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, surveyed 1.2 million bachelor's degree graduates with a minimum of 10 years of work experience (with a median of 15.5 years). The subjects hailed from more than 300 U.S. schools ranging from state institutions to the Ivy League, and their incomes show that the subject you major in can have little to do with your long-term earning power. PayScale excluded survey respondents who reported having advanced degrees, including M.B.A.s, M.D.s and J.D.s.More from WSJ.com:
throughout their careers, their incomes grow at almost the same rate, according to the survey. For instance, the median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates -- and at 10 or more years into graduates' working lives, the spread is 34%, according to the survey.One reason why Ivy Leaguers outpace their peers may be that they tend to choose roles where they're either managing or providing advice, says David Wise, a senior consultant at Hay Group Inc., a global management-consulting firm based in Philadelphia. By contrast, state-school graduates gravitate toward individual contributor and support roles. "Ivy Leaguers probably position themselves better for job opportunities that provide them with significant upside," says Mr. Wise, adding that this is the first survey he's seen that correlates school choice to a point later in a career.Also, more Ivy League graduates go into finance roles than graduates of other schools, and employers pay a premium for them, says Peter Cappelli, a professor of management and director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "Dartmouth kids get paid more for the same job than kids from Rutgers are [doing]," he says.Which school pays off the most? According to the survey, graduates of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League college, earn the highest median salary -- $134,000.
Of all Ivy League graduates surveyed, those from Columbia earn the lowest midcareer median salary -- $107,000. Meanwhile, the highest-paid liberal-arts-school graduates, from Bucknell University, earn slightly more -- $110,000.Mr. Wise called the data thought-provoking. "These results, to some extent, confirm suspicions that many people have about the importance of a person's college choice in giving them better pay opportunities down the line," says Mr. Wise. "What we still don't know is whether or not it's the training or education the school provides that drives these pay differences, or if the people from those schools are just wired to self-select into jobs that are likely to be paid more."The survey also looked at how much salaries increased over time. Liberal-arts-school graduates see their median total compensation grow by 95% after about 10 years, to $89,379 from $45,747. Meanwhile, graduates of "party schools" (as defined by the 2008 Princeton Review College Guide) aren't that far behind, with their incomes increasing 85% during that time to $84,685 from $45,715.At the bottom: Engineering-school grads, who earn the highest starting salaries, yet see their paychecks expand just 76% by their career midpoints to $103,842 from $59,058.Contrary to what many parents tell their children majoring in subjects like political science or philosophy, these degrees won't necessarily leave you in the poorhouse. It can depend on what career path you choose to pursue with that degree. History-majors-turned-business-consultants earn a median total compensation of $104,000, similar to their counterparts who pursued a business major like economics -- whose grads earn about $98,000 overall at midcareer, the PayScale study shows.English majors in all career paths who graduate from Harvard University earn a median starting salary of $44,500, compared with $35,000 for those with English degrees from Ohio State University -- a 27% difference. And that disparity widens even more after 10 years. By then, English majors from Harvard reported earning $103,000 in median pay, 111% more than their counterparts from Ohio State."With a liberal art's degree, it's what you make of it," says Al Lee, director of qualitative analysis at PayScale. "If you're motivated by income, then there are certainly careers in psychology that pay as well as careers out of engineering."Copyrighted, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
2008/08/01
Jobless high to 5.7 %
Jobless rate rises to 4-year high of 5.7 percentFriday August 1, 12:01 pm ET By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
Jobless rate rises to 5.7 percent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate climbed to a four-year high of 5.7 percent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs, dashing the hopes of an influx of young people looking for summer work.
Payroll cuts weren't as deep as the 72,000 predicted by economists, however. And, job losses for both May and June were smaller than previously reported.
July's reductions marked the seventh straight month where employers eliminated jobs. The economy has lost a total of 463,000 jobs so far this year.
The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed a lack of credit has stunted employers' expansion plans and willingness to hire. Fallout from the housing slump and high energy prices also are weighing on employers.
The increase in the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent, from 5.5 percent in June, in part came as many young people streamed into the labor market looking for summer jobs. This year, fewer of them were able to find work, the government said. The unemployment rate for teenagers jumped to 20.3 percent, the highest since late 1992.
The economy is the top concern of voters and will figure prominently in their choices for president and other elected officials come November. The faltering labor market is a source of anxiety not only for those looking for work but also for those worried about keeping their jobs during uncertain times.
Job losses in July were the heaviest in industries hard hit by the housing, credit and financial debacles. Manufacturers cut 35,000 positions, construction companies got rid of 22,000 and retailers shed 17,000 jobs. Temporary help firms -- also viewed as a barometer of demand for future hiring -- eliminated 29,000 jobs. Those losses swamped job gains elsewhere, including in the government, education and health care.
In May and June combined, the economy lost 98,000 jobs, according to revised figures. That wasn't as bad as the 124,000 reductions previously reported.
GM, Chrysler LLC, Wachovia Corp., Cox Enterprises Inc. and Pfizer are among the companies that have announced job cuts in July.
GM Friday reported the third-worst quarterly loss in its history in the second quarter as North American vehicle sales plummeted and the company faced expenses due to labor unrest and its massive restructuring plan.
On July 15, GM announced a plan to raise $15 billion for its restructuring by laying off thousands of hourly and salaried workers, speeding the closure of truck and SUV plants, suspending its dividend and raising cash through borrowing and the sale of assets.
GM also said it would reduce production by another 300,000 vehicles, and that could prompt another wave of blue-collar early retirement and buyout offers.
Meanwhile. Bennigan's restaurants owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group, are closing, driving more people to unemployment lines.
All told, there were 8.8 million unemployed people in July, up from 7.1 million last year. The jobless rate last July stood at 4.7 percent.
More job cuts are expected in coming months. There's growing concern that many people will pull back on their spending later this year when the bracing effect of the tax rebates fades, dealing a dangerous blow to the fragile economy. These worries are fanning recession fears.
Still, workers saw wage gains in July.
Average hourly earnings rose to $18.06 in July, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month. That matched economists' expectations. Over the past year, wages have grown 3.4 percent. Paychecks aren't stretching as far because of high food and energy prices.
Other reports out Friday showed stresses as companies cope with a sluggish economy.
Spending on construction projects around the country dropped 0.4 percent in June as cutbacks in home building eclipsed gains in commercial construction, the Commerce Department reported.
And, manufacturers' business was flat in July. The Institute for Supply Management's reading of activity from the country's producers of cars, airplanes, appliances and other manufactured goods hit 50, down from 50.2 in June. A reading above 50 signals growth.
The news forced Wall Street to reassess its initial positive reaction to the jobs data. The Dow, which opened higher, slid about 80 points by midmorning.
The Federal Reserve is expected to hold rates steady next week as it tries to grapple with dueling concerns -- weak economic activity and inflation.
In June, the Fed halted a nearly yearlong rate-cutting campaign to shore up the economy because lower rates would aggravate inflation. On the other hand, boosting rates too soon to fend off inflation could hurt the economy.
Jobless rate rises to 5.7 percent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate climbed to a four-year high of 5.7 percent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs, dashing the hopes of an influx of young people looking for summer work.
Payroll cuts weren't as deep as the 72,000 predicted by economists, however. And, job losses for both May and June were smaller than previously reported.
July's reductions marked the seventh straight month where employers eliminated jobs. The economy has lost a total of 463,000 jobs so far this year.
The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed a lack of credit has stunted employers' expansion plans and willingness to hire. Fallout from the housing slump and high energy prices also are weighing on employers.
The increase in the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent, from 5.5 percent in June, in part came as many young people streamed into the labor market looking for summer jobs. This year, fewer of them were able to find work, the government said. The unemployment rate for teenagers jumped to 20.3 percent, the highest since late 1992.
The economy is the top concern of voters and will figure prominently in their choices for president and other elected officials come November. The faltering labor market is a source of anxiety not only for those looking for work but also for those worried about keeping their jobs during uncertain times.
Job losses in July were the heaviest in industries hard hit by the housing, credit and financial debacles. Manufacturers cut 35,000 positions, construction companies got rid of 22,000 and retailers shed 17,000 jobs. Temporary help firms -- also viewed as a barometer of demand for future hiring -- eliminated 29,000 jobs. Those losses swamped job gains elsewhere, including in the government, education and health care.
In May and June combined, the economy lost 98,000 jobs, according to revised figures. That wasn't as bad as the 124,000 reductions previously reported.
GM, Chrysler LLC, Wachovia Corp., Cox Enterprises Inc. and Pfizer are among the companies that have announced job cuts in July.
GM Friday reported the third-worst quarterly loss in its history in the second quarter as North American vehicle sales plummeted and the company faced expenses due to labor unrest and its massive restructuring plan.
On July 15, GM announced a plan to raise $15 billion for its restructuring by laying off thousands of hourly and salaried workers, speeding the closure of truck and SUV plants, suspending its dividend and raising cash through borrowing and the sale of assets.
GM also said it would reduce production by another 300,000 vehicles, and that could prompt another wave of blue-collar early retirement and buyout offers.
Meanwhile. Bennigan's restaurants owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group, are closing, driving more people to unemployment lines.
All told, there were 8.8 million unemployed people in July, up from 7.1 million last year. The jobless rate last July stood at 4.7 percent.
More job cuts are expected in coming months. There's growing concern that many people will pull back on their spending later this year when the bracing effect of the tax rebates fades, dealing a dangerous blow to the fragile economy. These worries are fanning recession fears.
Still, workers saw wage gains in July.
Average hourly earnings rose to $18.06 in July, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month. That matched economists' expectations. Over the past year, wages have grown 3.4 percent. Paychecks aren't stretching as far because of high food and energy prices.
Other reports out Friday showed stresses as companies cope with a sluggish economy.
Spending on construction projects around the country dropped 0.4 percent in June as cutbacks in home building eclipsed gains in commercial construction, the Commerce Department reported.
And, manufacturers' business was flat in July. The Institute for Supply Management's reading of activity from the country's producers of cars, airplanes, appliances and other manufactured goods hit 50, down from 50.2 in June. A reading above 50 signals growth.
The news forced Wall Street to reassess its initial positive reaction to the jobs data. The Dow, which opened higher, slid about 80 points by midmorning.
The Federal Reserve is expected to hold rates steady next week as it tries to grapple with dueling concerns -- weak economic activity and inflation.
In June, the Fed halted a nearly yearlong rate-cutting campaign to shore up the economy because lower rates would aggravate inflation. On the other hand, boosting rates too soon to fend off inflation could hurt the economy.
2008/07/17
The Declining Value Of Your College Degree
This is an article I read from Yahoo this morning and it is also an issue I kept questioning about the degree and career development.
I really agree what author said in this article. Also I am considering to drop out from my PhD program because I cannot find any value from it.
The Declining Value Of Your College Degree
By GREG IP
A four-year college degree, seen for generations as a ticket to a better life, is no longer enough to guarantee a steadily rising paycheck.
A college degree may not take you as far as you'd expect. However, WSJ's Jennifer Merritt reports on a few fields where a bachelor's degree still remains a worthy investment.
Just ask Bea Dewing. After she earned a bachelor's degree -- her second -- in computer science from Maryland's Frostburg State University in 1986, she enjoyed almost unbroken advances in wages, eventually earning $89,000 a year as a data modeler for Sprint Corp. in Lawrence, Kan. Then, in 2002, Sprint laid her off.
"I thought I might be looking a few weeks or months at the most," says Ms. Dewing, now 56 years old. Instead she spent the next six years in a career wilderness, starting an Internet café that didn't succeed, working temporary jobs and low-end positions in data processing, and fruitlessly responding to hundreds of job postings.
The low point came around 2004 when a recruiter for Sprint -- now known as Sprint Nextel Corp. -- called seeking to fill a job similar to the one she lost two years earlier, but paying barely a third of her old salary.
In April, Ms. Dewing finally landed a job similar to her old one in the information technology department of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., where she relocated. She earns about 20% less than she did in 2002, adjusted for inflation, but considers herself fortunate, and wiser.
A degree, she says, "isn't any big guarantee of employment, it's a basic requirement, a step you have to take to even be considered for many professional jobs."
MORE DATA
Trends in Education, Salaries
For decades, the typical college graduate's wage rose well above inflation. But no longer. In the economic expansion that began in 2001 and now appears to be ending, the inflation-adjusted wages of the majority of U.S. workers didn't grow, even among those who went to college. The government's statistical snapshots show the typical weekly salary of a worker with a bachelor's degree, adjusted for inflation, didn't rise last year from 2006 and was 1.7% below the 2001 level.
College-educated workers are more plentiful, more commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be the purview of blue-collar workers only. What employers want from workers nowadays is more narrow, more abstract and less easily learned in college.
To be sure, the average American with a college diploma still earns about 75% more than a worker with a high-school diploma and is less likely to be unemployed. Yet while that so-called college premium is up from 40% in 1979, it is little changed from 2001, according to data compiled by Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank.
Most statistics he and other economists use don't track individual workers over time, but compare annual snapshots of the work force. That said, this trend doesn't appear due to an influx of lower-paid young workers or falling starting salaries; Mr. Bernstein says when differences in age, race, marital status and place of residence are accounted for, the trend remains the same.
A variety of economic forces are at work here. Globalization and technology have altered the types of skills that earn workers a premium wage; in many cases, those skills aren't learned in college classrooms. And compared with previous generations, today's college graduates are far more likely to be competing against educated immigrants and educated workers employed overseas.
The issue isn't a lack of economic growth, which was solid for most of the 2000s. Rather, it's that the fruits of growth are flowing largely to "a relatively small group of people who have a particular set of skills and assets that lots of other people don't," says Mr. Bernstein. And that "doesn't necessarily have that much to do with your education." In short, a college degree is often necessary, but not sufficient, to get a paycheck that beats inflation.
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Economists chiefly cite globalization and technology, which have prompted employers to put the highest value on abstract skills possessed by a relatively small group, for this state of affairs. Harvard University economists Lawrence Katz and Claudia Goldin argue that in the 1990s, it became easier for firms to do overseas, or with computers at home, the work once done by "lower-end college graduates in middle management and certain professional positions." This depressed these workers' wages, but made college graduates whose work was more abstract and creative more productive, driving their salaries up.
Indeed, salaries have seen extraordinary growth among a small number of highly paid individuals in the financial sector -- such as fund management, investment banking and corporate law -- which, until the credit crisis hit a year ago, had benefited both from the buoyant financial environment and the globalization of finance, in which the U.S. remains a leader.
Richard Spitzer is one of those beneficiaries. He received his undergraduate degree in East Asian studies in 1995 from the College of William and Mary and graduated from Georgetown University's law school in 2001. The New York firm for which he works, now called Dewey & LeBoeuf, has a specialty in complex legal work for insurance companies. There, Mr. Spitzer has developed an expertise in "catastrophe bonds." An insurance company sells such bonds to investors and pays them interest, unless an earthquake, a hurricane or unexpected surge in deaths occurs.
Experts in these bonds are "probably a rarefied species -- there's only a few law firms that do them," says Mr. Spitzer, 35 years old. He typically spends two to four months on a single deal, ensuring that details like timing of payments or definition of the triggering event are precise enough to avoid disputes or default.
MORE FROM CAREER JOURNAL
• Mr. Spitzer's salary has doubled to $265,000 since joining in 2001, in line with salaries similar firms pay.
But not all law graduates are so fortunate; many, especially those from less-prestigious schools, have far lower salaries and less job security. Similarly, some computer-science graduates strike it rich. But their skills are not as rare as they were in the early 1980s, when the discipline took off, and graduates today must contend with competition from hundreds of thousands of similarly qualified foreign workers in the U.S. or overseas.
That helps explain Ms. Dewing's experience. She was raised in a family that prized education. Both her parents went to college on the G.I. Bill, which pays tuition costs for servicemen and some dependents. Four of their six children earned college degrees. In 1979, she earned a bachelor's degree in government and politics from George Mason University in Virginia. Several years later, then a single mother, she decided to get a degree in computer science.
Her first job out of college was with the federal government, earning about $35,000 in today's dollars. "For 16 years I had no trouble at all finding jobs," she said. Earlier this decade she ended up at Sprint designing databases -- a specialty called "data modeling" that isn't widely taught in schools and usually requires hands-on experience.
In 2002 Sprint, reeling from the collapse of the telecommunications industry, initiated a wave of layoffs that eventually totaled 15,000 workers in 13 months, Ms. Dewing among them. She remained in the Kansas City area, posting her résumé on job boards. When recruiters called, she would usually put her expected salary at something close to her old salary. As time went by without an offer she lowered it steadily, to $60,000. She found herself competing for jobs with employees of outsourcing firms brought over from India on temporary visas, such as the H-1B.
A few months ago, Ms. Dewing got a call from a recruiter calling on behalf of Wal-Mart. Company officials pressed her during her interview on how she had kept up her data-modeling ability during her six years away from the specialty. She noted that while at Sprint she had revived the Kansas City chapter of a data modelers' professional association and, long after being laid off, continued to attend its seminars where invited experts would describe the latest advances. She even cited her short-lived Internet café as evidence of how she could solve diverse problems.
When she landed the job, she says, "I felt, 'All right, I'm a professional again.'" Even so, Ms. Dewing has a newfound appreciation for how insecure any job can be and how little a college degree by itself stands for. "There is enough competition for entry-level positions that employers are going to ask, 'What else have you done in your life besides go to college?'" she says. "And in information technology, a portfolio of hands-on experience with programming is a really good thing to have."
Write to Greg Ip at greg.ip@wsj.com
I really agree what author said in this article. Also I am considering to drop out from my PhD program because I cannot find any value from it.
The Declining Value Of Your College Degree
By GREG IP
A four-year college degree, seen for generations as a ticket to a better life, is no longer enough to guarantee a steadily rising paycheck.
A college degree may not take you as far as you'd expect. However, WSJ's Jennifer Merritt reports on a few fields where a bachelor's degree still remains a worthy investment.
Just ask Bea Dewing. After she earned a bachelor's degree -- her second -- in computer science from Maryland's Frostburg State University in 1986, she enjoyed almost unbroken advances in wages, eventually earning $89,000 a year as a data modeler for Sprint Corp. in Lawrence, Kan. Then, in 2002, Sprint laid her off.
"I thought I might be looking a few weeks or months at the most," says Ms. Dewing, now 56 years old. Instead she spent the next six years in a career wilderness, starting an Internet café that didn't succeed, working temporary jobs and low-end positions in data processing, and fruitlessly responding to hundreds of job postings.
The low point came around 2004 when a recruiter for Sprint -- now known as Sprint Nextel Corp. -- called seeking to fill a job similar to the one she lost two years earlier, but paying barely a third of her old salary.
In April, Ms. Dewing finally landed a job similar to her old one in the information technology department of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., where she relocated. She earns about 20% less than she did in 2002, adjusted for inflation, but considers herself fortunate, and wiser.
A degree, she says, "isn't any big guarantee of employment, it's a basic requirement, a step you have to take to even be considered for many professional jobs."
MORE DATA
Trends in Education, Salaries
For decades, the typical college graduate's wage rose well above inflation. But no longer. In the economic expansion that began in 2001 and now appears to be ending, the inflation-adjusted wages of the majority of U.S. workers didn't grow, even among those who went to college. The government's statistical snapshots show the typical weekly salary of a worker with a bachelor's degree, adjusted for inflation, didn't rise last year from 2006 and was 1.7% below the 2001 level.
College-educated workers are more plentiful, more commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be the purview of blue-collar workers only. What employers want from workers nowadays is more narrow, more abstract and less easily learned in college.
To be sure, the average American with a college diploma still earns about 75% more than a worker with a high-school diploma and is less likely to be unemployed. Yet while that so-called college premium is up from 40% in 1979, it is little changed from 2001, according to data compiled by Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank.
Most statistics he and other economists use don't track individual workers over time, but compare annual snapshots of the work force. That said, this trend doesn't appear due to an influx of lower-paid young workers or falling starting salaries; Mr. Bernstein says when differences in age, race, marital status and place of residence are accounted for, the trend remains the same.
A variety of economic forces are at work here. Globalization and technology have altered the types of skills that earn workers a premium wage; in many cases, those skills aren't learned in college classrooms. And compared with previous generations, today's college graduates are far more likely to be competing against educated immigrants and educated workers employed overseas.
The issue isn't a lack of economic growth, which was solid for most of the 2000s. Rather, it's that the fruits of growth are flowing largely to "a relatively small group of people who have a particular set of skills and assets that lots of other people don't," says Mr. Bernstein. And that "doesn't necessarily have that much to do with your education." In short, a college degree is often necessary, but not sufficient, to get a paycheck that beats inflation.
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Economists chiefly cite globalization and technology, which have prompted employers to put the highest value on abstract skills possessed by a relatively small group, for this state of affairs. Harvard University economists Lawrence Katz and Claudia Goldin argue that in the 1990s, it became easier for firms to do overseas, or with computers at home, the work once done by "lower-end college graduates in middle management and certain professional positions." This depressed these workers' wages, but made college graduates whose work was more abstract and creative more productive, driving their salaries up.
Indeed, salaries have seen extraordinary growth among a small number of highly paid individuals in the financial sector -- such as fund management, investment banking and corporate law -- which, until the credit crisis hit a year ago, had benefited both from the buoyant financial environment and the globalization of finance, in which the U.S. remains a leader.
Richard Spitzer is one of those beneficiaries. He received his undergraduate degree in East Asian studies in 1995 from the College of William and Mary and graduated from Georgetown University's law school in 2001. The New York firm for which he works, now called Dewey & LeBoeuf, has a specialty in complex legal work for insurance companies. There, Mr. Spitzer has developed an expertise in "catastrophe bonds." An insurance company sells such bonds to investors and pays them interest, unless an earthquake, a hurricane or unexpected surge in deaths occurs.
Experts in these bonds are "probably a rarefied species -- there's only a few law firms that do them," says Mr. Spitzer, 35 years old. He typically spends two to four months on a single deal, ensuring that details like timing of payments or definition of the triggering event are precise enough to avoid disputes or default.
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• Mr. Spitzer's salary has doubled to $265,000 since joining in 2001, in line with salaries similar firms pay.
But not all law graduates are so fortunate; many, especially those from less-prestigious schools, have far lower salaries and less job security. Similarly, some computer-science graduates strike it rich. But their skills are not as rare as they were in the early 1980s, when the discipline took off, and graduates today must contend with competition from hundreds of thousands of similarly qualified foreign workers in the U.S. or overseas.
That helps explain Ms. Dewing's experience. She was raised in a family that prized education. Both her parents went to college on the G.I. Bill, which pays tuition costs for servicemen and some dependents. Four of their six children earned college degrees. In 1979, she earned a bachelor's degree in government and politics from George Mason University in Virginia. Several years later, then a single mother, she decided to get a degree in computer science.
Her first job out of college was with the federal government, earning about $35,000 in today's dollars. "For 16 years I had no trouble at all finding jobs," she said. Earlier this decade she ended up at Sprint designing databases -- a specialty called "data modeling" that isn't widely taught in schools and usually requires hands-on experience.
In 2002 Sprint, reeling from the collapse of the telecommunications industry, initiated a wave of layoffs that eventually totaled 15,000 workers in 13 months, Ms. Dewing among them. She remained in the Kansas City area, posting her résumé on job boards. When recruiters called, she would usually put her expected salary at something close to her old salary. As time went by without an offer she lowered it steadily, to $60,000. She found herself competing for jobs with employees of outsourcing firms brought over from India on temporary visas, such as the H-1B.
A few months ago, Ms. Dewing got a call from a recruiter calling on behalf of Wal-Mart. Company officials pressed her during her interview on how she had kept up her data-modeling ability during her six years away from the specialty. She noted that while at Sprint she had revived the Kansas City chapter of a data modelers' professional association and, long after being laid off, continued to attend its seminars where invited experts would describe the latest advances. She even cited her short-lived Internet café as evidence of how she could solve diverse problems.
When she landed the job, she says, "I felt, 'All right, I'm a professional again.'" Even so, Ms. Dewing has a newfound appreciation for how insecure any job can be and how little a college degree by itself stands for. "There is enough competition for entry-level positions that employers are going to ask, 'What else have you done in your life besides go to college?'" she says. "And in information technology, a portfolio of hands-on experience with programming is a really good thing to have."
Write to Greg Ip at greg.ip@wsj.com
2008/06/27
中國的熱錢
如果這個新聞成真,將如Peter Drucker在下一個社會中所提到中國將在2010遇到重大的社會崩解的問題,對於Peter Durker在2000年時中的大膽預言,一直記著"中國在 10 年內會分裂成某種型態的地方分權，最大的挑戰是要整頓極度無效率的國有企業，卻不能引發社會動亂",隨著近兩年大陸及新興市場的崛起,一直對於這個泡沫將在何時幻滅,從近來的演變似乎越來越有跡象....
中國熱錢60兆 「3年內恐爆危機」
更新日期:2008/06/27 04:32 白德華綜合報導
流入中國的熱錢有多少？社科院最新報告，○三年至今年首季累計高達一．七五四兆美元（合人民幣一三．六八兆元，約合新台幣六○．五○八兆元），為今年三月中國外匯儲備的一○四％，超出亞洲金融危機前整個東亞承受的規模。專家說，熱錢開始影響中國短期金融形勢，處理不當三年內將爆市場危機。
在題為「全口徑測算中國當前的熱錢規模」的報告中，張明運用調整後的外匯儲備增加額，減去貿易順差與FDI（外商直接投資），再加上貿易順差與FDI中可能隱藏的熱錢的方法，算出○三至○八年首季的熱錢流入規模。
報告顯示，這段時間累計流入中國的熱錢達一兆兩千零卅二億美元，熱錢在中國累計收益五千五百一十億美元，兩者加總一兆七千五百四十二億美元，為今年三月中國外匯儲備餘額的一○四％。
張明說，統計顯示熱錢流入中國的規模驚人，一旦爆發危機，目前的巨額外匯儲備未必像想像那麼充足。因此，應採取各種手段，控制熱錢的進一步流入，並未雨綢繆防範熱錢大規模撤出。
張明表示，熱錢流入中國的動因，在於獲得利息、人民幣升值收益及資產價格溢價。熱錢的投資對象大致包括銀行存款、股票及房地產三類。
「自去年中國樓市、股市走低後，做為套利資產的熱錢，理論上會從這些領域撤出，但奇怪的是，從目前國際收支帳看，外資仍呈流入趨勢。」
他說，一種可能是熱錢回到境內商業銀行。由於人民幣兌美元升值形成的利差，熱錢每年也可坐享二○％無風險收益；另一可能，是熱錢流向沿海地區的上千億資金的民間借貸市場。
「應意識到資本流動逆轉，對中國經濟帶來的風險」，北京師範大學金融研究中心教授鍾偉警告說，熱錢問題已開始影響中國短期的金融形勢，如處理不當，市場大規模調整三年內會發生。
如何防範熱錢大規模逃出，已是中共高層最關注問題。雖然外匯管制措施嚴格，且中國尚未開放資本帳項目，不致發生泰國式的金融危機，但學者認為，當外界認為人民幣升值告一段落，或美次貸危機結束開始為抑制通脹提高利率，熱錢就可能一夕間竄出。
「防範熱錢，外匯管理局、商務部及銀行應三方連手合作」，商務部研究院研究員梅新育說，FDI交給商務部管理，外資進入中國賬戶透過外匯管理局，而資本具體動向，如購買設備廠房或投資股市，則透過商業銀行帳戶劃帳，三方合作才能弄清外資的動態。
除強化監管外，梅新育說，還應堅決拒絕一次大幅度提升人民幣匯率，防範因人民幣升值周期到頂熱錢迅速套現回流的風險。
上周，中共外匯管理局局長胡曉煉明確表示，為防範國際短期投機資本衝擊，要加強跨境資本流動監管，防範套利投機資金跨境轉移。為此，外管局出台了《報送非居民人民幣帳戶資料》規定，將八類非居民人民幣帳戶納入監管範圍，監管力度已是前所有見。
中國熱錢60兆 「3年內恐爆危機」
更新日期:2008/06/27 04:32 白德華綜合報導
流入中國的熱錢有多少？社科院最新報告，○三年至今年首季累計高達一．七五四兆美元（合人民幣一三．六八兆元，約合新台幣六○．五○八兆元），為今年三月中國外匯儲備的一○四％，超出亞洲金融危機前整個東亞承受的規模。專家說，熱錢開始影響中國短期金融形勢，處理不當三年內將爆市場危機。
在題為「全口徑測算中國當前的熱錢規模」的報告中，張明運用調整後的外匯儲備增加額，減去貿易順差與FDI（外商直接投資），再加上貿易順差與FDI中可能隱藏的熱錢的方法，算出○三至○八年首季的熱錢流入規模。
報告顯示，這段時間累計流入中國的熱錢達一兆兩千零卅二億美元，熱錢在中國累計收益五千五百一十億美元，兩者加總一兆七千五百四十二億美元，為今年三月中國外匯儲備餘額的一○四％。
張明說，統計顯示熱錢流入中國的規模驚人，一旦爆發危機，目前的巨額外匯儲備未必像想像那麼充足。因此，應採取各種手段，控制熱錢的進一步流入，並未雨綢繆防範熱錢大規模撤出。
張明表示，熱錢流入中國的動因，在於獲得利息、人民幣升值收益及資產價格溢價。熱錢的投資對象大致包括銀行存款、股票及房地產三類。
「自去年中國樓市、股市走低後，做為套利資產的熱錢，理論上會從這些領域撤出，但奇怪的是，從目前國際收支帳看，外資仍呈流入趨勢。」
他說，一種可能是熱錢回到境內商業銀行。由於人民幣兌美元升值形成的利差，熱錢每年也可坐享二○％無風險收益；另一可能，是熱錢流向沿海地區的上千億資金的民間借貸市場。
「應意識到資本流動逆轉，對中國經濟帶來的風險」，北京師範大學金融研究中心教授鍾偉警告說，熱錢問題已開始影響中國短期的金融形勢，如處理不當，市場大規模調整三年內會發生。
如何防範熱錢大規模逃出，已是中共高層最關注問題。雖然外匯管制措施嚴格，且中國尚未開放資本帳項目，不致發生泰國式的金融危機，但學者認為，當外界認為人民幣升值告一段落，或美次貸危機結束開始為抑制通脹提高利率，熱錢就可能一夕間竄出。
「防範熱錢，外匯管理局、商務部及銀行應三方連手合作」，商務部研究院研究員梅新育說，FDI交給商務部管理，外資進入中國賬戶透過外匯管理局，而資本具體動向，如購買設備廠房或投資股市，則透過商業銀行帳戶劃帳，三方合作才能弄清外資的動態。
除強化監管外，梅新育說，還應堅決拒絕一次大幅度提升人民幣匯率，防範因人民幣升值周期到頂熱錢迅速套現回流的風險。
上周，中共外匯管理局局長胡曉煉明確表示，為防範國際短期投機資本衝擊，要加強跨境資本流動監管，防範套利投機資金跨境轉移。為此，外管局出台了《報送非居民人民幣帳戶資料》規定，將八類非居民人民幣帳戶納入監管範圍，監管力度已是前所有見。
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