Underemployment: 28.4% for Ages 18 to 29

Has anyone here been to a Third World Country?  I've traveled quite a bit before I hit rock bottom and one thing always struck me: Third World Countries represent Capitalism in its purist form.  If you're rich in Abu Dhabi, you're a king.  You're probably richer than God. If you are poor in India, you eat rats for dinner.  There are no boundaries to your wealth if you make it in a third world country.  Here, taxes will eat away at your earnings and you can't enslave people to serve your every need.  I guess you need to go to Mauritania for that.  That's against our social conscience here.

I firmly believe that India is not becoming more like America, but America is becoming New Bombay of the West.  So, long intro, but I just wanted to draw a comparison between something that has been a part of life in third world countries for a long time--and what is happening in our backyards.

When I was in Egypt with friends, we had an on-going joke.  Everyone that we ran across, the guy who sold meat on the street, the taxi driver, the man selling fruit on the street--they all claimed to be lawyers and doctors hard on their luck.  We naturally assumed they were full of shit.  It didn't make any sense to us.  Why would you be driving a cab if you were a lawyer or an engineer?  Why would you be selling me falafel if you were a doctor.  Not everyone can be so hard up, right?  Is it possible?

Even in my Third Country of origin, I have many cousins and second cousins who became extremely educated with B.S. degrees and Ph.Ds--only to sit home for years before securing a job.  My mother and I would tisk, tisk at them and question whether they did well in their programs or whether they were lazy in trying to get a job behind their backs.

So, now it's happening to us.  Can you believe that stat?  Nearly 1/3 of youth are underemployed.   With the cost of living at an all time high, that's essentially the same as being destitute.  It won't be long before your cabbie is a Harvard grad.

Americans aged 18 to 29 had easily the highest underemployment rate in July of any age group, at 28.4%, including 11.8% who were unemployed and 16.6% who were employed part time but wanted full-time work. Among all U.S. adults in the workforce, a higher percentage of women than of men are underemployed.

Yah. You don't have to tell me that more women are being affected than men.  I'm living it and I'm in the next age group.

I firmly believe, that a decent salary and benefits will not be forthcoming unless you make it happen yourself. In other words, in the years and decades to come, wealth in America will center around those who are born into it, and among large business owners.  Fewer and fewer companies will pay you a decent wage.  You will have to figure out a way to get it on your own.  When I graduated from law school, nothing was scarier than the thought of NOT having a regular paycheck.  I wish I wasn't raised to think of regular pay as a goal.  Maybe I would have been more enterprising.  Maybe you ought to be as well.  Invent your own way. If you see an opportunity, grab it.  Don't sit back and wait for anyone to hand you anything.  When the dust settles, I'm hoping that BIDER readers and I will come out unscathed.

I have a neighbor and, judging by his obliviousness, I'm positive that he will not read this.  Even if he does, he won't get my point.  He drives a beautiful car, a Z.  I love it.  He's in grad school.  He gave me a ride once and I asked him.... "You know, you're already driving a Z and you haven't graduated yet.  Where do you go from here?"

"I can't wait," he said.  There are no words.

Canary in the Legal Coal Mine: T14 Temp Jobs in India

Slave work in Mumbai: Cotton gin worker or Michigan Law graduate in the depths of an Indian doc review basement?

Can't say I'm surprised! I've been telling BIDER readers for months to consider non-legal employment outside of the U.S. if they want any chance of finding a full-time job with health care and to be free of student loan debt. Looks like the T14 schools are jumping on the same idea with a different twist. While I've promoted fleeing the country as a new adventure that could lead to happiness outside of the legal field, law schools are trying to sell the idea of document review in India as a great international opportunity to their students! I don't think this is the type of work aspiring international lawyers were thinking of when they decided to attend Michigan Law School. You can't make this stuff up. Above the Law has the story:

Michigan Law School — the 9th best law school in America — is now posting job opportunities from India.

Has it really gotten bad enough that graduates from a top law school should consider international LPO opportunities? Yes, yes it has…

The job is for Pangea3, one of the largest legal outsourcing companies on the market. Look at how they try to spin the “opportunity” for a bunch of Michigan students:

Role: Legal Research – Associate.
Designation: Associate.
Department: Litigation.
Reports to: Sr. Manager – Litigation.

Job Description: Pangea3 is looking for a recent law school graduate who’s looking for an alternative to the law firm route. The position will offer a U.S. attorney the opportunity to gain a global perspective on the legal services industry by joining a cutting-edge, dynamic, and fast-growing industry in an exciting, rapidly changing part of the world…

The Associate will be based in our state-of-the- art, ISO-certified facility in Mumbai, India. Candidate Profile: Recent Law graduates; Remuneration: Compensation includes competitive benefits and bonus.

There it is, folks. A Top 10 school shilling for a legal sweatshop in India. Maybe T14 grads will become the 21st century version of slave masters of the outsourced legal sweatshops. If this isn't the canary in the coal mine for OL lemmings, I don't know what else will convince them that law school is a bad investment.

Should You Flee the Country?

Anyone who has read this blog since I started writing here knows that I am an advocate of leaving the country, either to start a new debt-free life or just to find a decent paying job that will sustain you for a few years. This is what I wrote in February:

My suggestion is if you don't want to spend the next 10-20 years unemployed or temping, learn a foreign language and a skill that is transferable anywhere in the world, then consider leaving the country if you can. If you refuse or can't because of family or financial reasons, be prepared to suffer for the foreseeable future.

My opinion hasn't changed. I don't care what the nightly news says about signs of improvement. If you are unemployed or underemployed and reading this from your parents' basement, things haven't improved. Suprime JD wrote a post yesterday which listed good reasons for some recent grads to consider moving away for good. I recommend reading the entire post at his blog.

We have been caught in a trap. The injustice against us is severe. We owe all this fucking money with no reasonable means of paying it back anytime soon and having a decent standard of living. Student loan repayments coupled with rising energy prices, rising healthcare costs, low wages and high rents spells hardship for many JD's. The stronger the injustice, the stronger the response. Leaving the country is a reasonable solution for many. Just as other immigrants fled their native countries due to economic discrimination (because in the end all discrimination is in essence economic) so must we. This is one option that exists. If the system is so stacked against us, with banks, government, public sentiment not willing to help us, then we must help ourselves. Who is willing to make a move in order to better his life? Is moving to Germany, Brazil, Singapore, Italy, South Africa, Australia, wherever, worth it in the end? You start a fresh new life, meet new people, and have 0 debt at the expense of leaving loves ones behind. Many others have done the same thing. My parents left world war 2 wrecked greece behind for a better life here. They said goodbye to relatives, friends, and loved ones in order to have economic freedom. For many JD debt slaves in america, fleeing the debt burden is a most viable option. With interest, many will pay back $312,000 on a $150,000 student loan over a period of 25 years. Imagine being able to consume $312,000 over a 25 year period as opposed to paying back debt which did not further your life, but only burdened it. Many american JD's think it to be absurd that they should have to leave their country for a better lifestyle. Heres the reality: it is NOT absurd to leave, but it is absurd to STAY. This is what the lenders want, for us to stay and pay back the loan, with interest.

Millions of others have emigrated for a better lifestyle. The fact that JD's are leaving and other graduate school debt slaves are emigrating from America shows that the USA standard of living has fallen over the course of the past 2 decades. Millions around the world have also gotten professional degrees only to drive cabs and busses, but at least they are debt free as most schools are publicly financed. We JD's here are in a world of trouble and pain. But this can go away rather quickly. Get some type of employment, save your money, work under the table if you have to. Pick a country, get the visa, and split. Learn the language just as so many immigrants here learned our language.

The perception that we american lawyers are so special needs to change. According to the system we are NOT special, but just pawns to be exploited. We studied and gave up working for 3 years in order to pursue a law license to better our lives. We incurred +150k in debt to achieve this goal. For many it has been a fruitless endeavor. We must MAKE OURSELVES SPECIAL. Fleeing the nation is not for everyone. Some will be able to find nonlegal employment that will pay them well. Others have wealthy parents that will support them. But there are thousands of others that will not find alternative employment, do not have wealthy parents, and are working for $15 per hour while owing 150k in debt. Its time to make a move.

While I wholeheartedly agree with Subprime JD's thoughts on leaving the country, my opinion differs slightly that the education scam, whether you're talking about the college scam or the law school scam, is in the same category as the subprime mortgage crisis:

The fact of the matter is that the unemployed JD is a tiny, miniscule percentage of the population. There are over 10 million homeowners in default, whereas less than 200,000 JDs are getting crushed in debt, more or less. Our plight will most likely not be recognized by the majority of people. In addition, lawyers are universally hated by the general public. Ive posted about new lawyer woes on other financial blogs and people cheer our suffering. We will not get much support from the general public, nor from the gov, nor from the ABA. We are on our own.

The higher education scam will have much deeper consequences for our nation than the downfall of Lehman Brothers or the housing crisis. The issues the law scam blogs write about apply to a much larger population outside of the legal community. The higher education scam is a generational crisis affecting millions of people between the ages of 18 and 30, as well as their children and their aging parents. This is why Angel and I cover the college scams because more people need to realize that rising tuition costs and non-dischargeable student loans isn't just a problem affecting JDs. It will have serious affects on our nation's long-term economic stability and ability to remain competitive on the world stage.

A third of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are unemployed in this country. Young, able-minded adults who should be having families, working, saving up to buy a home or for their children's education are now moving back in with mom and dad to survive. I see daily advertisements for college educated graduates to work for $8.75 per hour as office assistants. No benefits. Who can survive on $8.75 per hour let alone pay off your student loans? You'd be better off on welfare and Medicaid. Guess where these employed college graduates are living? Yep, back home with mom and dad too. This problem is not going away and it will likely get worse. Subprime is right in that we are alone in this, not because our problems our minuscule, but because the law school scam blogs aren't enough to fight the student loan industry and their friends in Washington.

Secretarial jobs were once relegated to high school graduates. An older lady who worked as a secretary at my high school never attended college and she has health insurance, a nice 401k plan, and makes nearly as much as the attorneys doing document review in NYC. Oh, and she's debt free and owns her home. Internships used to be a thing kids did during the summertime or the summer before starting college. Now, college students and graduates are paying thousands for a chance at an unpaid internship. The high school educated secretary with a 401k is our past. The $8.75 per hour college educated personal assistant living in her parents' garage with $100k non-dischargeable student loan debt is our future.

You do have a choice and that is to leave the country. I am not saying this as someone desperate to leave the country because of my exorbitant student loan debt. I mentioned in a previous post that even with my interest accumulating over the last year, my private loan debt is manageable and can be paid off in less than five years. The question you have to ask yourself regardless of your debt is how do you want to live your life. Do you want to spend the best years of your life semi-homeless and leeching off of your parents' dwindling retirement plan with Aunt Sallie ringing your phone every hour? Other countries, Asian countries in particular, are experiencing rapid growth. Some of these countries will be more likely to appreciate your advanced degrees than employers in the United States who take us for granted. There are programs, as I noted in a post several days ago, that provide housing, health care, and salaries that range from a small stipend to more than enough to put into savings and pay off those loans. Some of these programs will also qualify you for Income Based Repayment for your federal loans and even loan forgiveness if you work for a non-profit abroad. Living abroad is not for everyone, but if you are single and childless it is something to consider. Isn't working with health care and a small savings with the incentive to travel better than being depressed, unemployed, and tied down to student loan debt for the rest of your life?

Tips on Being Overqualified

I just came across Ask a Manager and thought the blog was very helpful in answering some of the questions I had about references, cover letters, thank you letters after an interview, etc. One of her articles on what to do if you're overqualified was posted at USNWR back in 2008 but I think the tips she mentions are useful to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

So your job

is to reassure the hiring manager that none of these things are true, and in order to be convincing, you need to explain why. For instance:

• "At this stage in my career, having a job I enjoy is more important to me than salary. I have no problem with earning less than I have in the past."

• "I want to move into this field, and I know that I need to start at a lower level in order to do that."

• "I'm deliberately looking for something with fewer responsibilities than I've had in the past so that I can spend more time with my family." (Or because you're going to school at night or have simply realized you prefer lower-pressure jobs.)

• "I wouldn't take a job I'm not excited about, and I'm excited about this one because ______."

Ideally, the time to address all of this is in your cover letter. Otherwise, you may never get the chance to say it at all, because the manager may simply assume that you don't understand the nature of the position and screen you from the start. And once you get to the interview stage, be prepared to discuss it again, likely in more detail.

If you can successfully put these doubts to rest, many hiring managers will be thrilled to hire your overqualified self. After all, you're a bargain.

Of course, I'm pretty sure she's not addressing people who are overqualified in terms of having a JD or another graduate degree, but overqualified in that they have actual work experience. Maybe we should send Allison a few law related questions. She might have a few helpful tips for law grads looking for entry level careers in other fields.

On another note, I am visiting my friend who is getting her PhD at a top tier school (and has admitted that she'll probably never find a job). Boy did she have plenty of sad stories to tell me. It amazes me how so many smart people remain clueless when it comes to applying to graduate school, taking on mounds of debt, and not realizing that there aren't any jobs to help them pay back that debt. It just shows you that anyone can be fooled and there will be millions more who will join us in the indentured educated class in the coming years.

One of her friends was laid off because her job is being outsourced. What's even sadder is that the company is now paying her to train people in Southeast Asia who will take over her job in a few months. Anyway, instead of learning her lesson she's planning to take out a huge ass loan to go to a third tier business school. Another story she told me was about a mutual acquaintance from college who is attending a tier 1 law school but can't find a job (not surprising). She goes to interview after interview and all of them tell her that as much as they like her, they aren't hiring many new graduates. My question is why then did they offer her an interview to get her hopes up when they knew that she never had a chance of getting the job? Wtf?

Ian Welsh on the Economy, Health Care Reform on the Ken Rose Radio Show

I've quoted Ian Welsh several times in my posts and admire his work both at his blog and formerly at FireDogLake. Here he discusses a whole range of topics from the economy to health care reform. Enjoy.

I'll be out for most of the day but I will have my ECONned post and giveaway up this weekend.

Job Offers Galore....

in Bangalore.  It seems that you stand a very good chance of getting a job offer if you go to school in a third world country. Why did my parents come here again?  I'm joking, of course.  I love America.  It just seems as if the U.S. has jumped the shark.

Read this and weep!

BANGALORE: A clutch of foreign and Indian law firms literally swooped down on the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore 
campus, over the past few weeks, offering handsome packages to graduates. The rise in demand for prospective lawyers saw an uptick in salaries being offered — from Rs 7.5 lakh in 2009 to Rs 9.7 lakh per annum this time. The highest domestic offer, of around Rs 12.5 lakh, was made by FMCG major Marico, compared with Rs 11 lakh made last year.

Around 50 students of the 2010 batch of 77 students have accepted corporate offers, while the rest will be pursuing litigation, civil services or other further studies. Amarchand & Mangaldas was the biggest recruiter and they picked up 12 students.

The highest offers were made by UK Magic Circle firms namely Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, followed by Norton Rose and Herbert Smith, that offered an average salary package of £37,000-38,000 per annum. A unique feature of this year’s placements was the participation of PSUs such as Indian Oil and Sail. This year’s campus placement saw participation by law firms like J Sagar & Associates, Nishith Desai & Associates and Talwar Thakore & Associates, among others.

Consultancies like McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group also visited the campus. Around 21 students were recruited through earlier processes and pre-placement offers with law firms like Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh Shroff, Luthra & Luthra Law Offices and S&R Associates.

The campus placement at National Law School was held early this year instead of the conventional April-May sessions, said NLSIU head of the public relations cell, Kushal Bhimjiani. “Foreign firms are increasing their offers to students in India. They come earlier due to which we missed out a few jobs,” Ms Bhimjiani said.

“Indian firms also wanted it to be held earlier as they want to get hold of the best talent,” she added. Representing the financial sector were companies such as ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra and microfinance organisation IFMR. The other top companies that participated were Bharti Airtel, Marico, Jindal Steel Works and Hero Honda.