The title says it all. We're at historic lows. It might go up a little, but not to a level that is considered historically high.
I tend to agree. Too many people retired. Millennials and GenZ don't like to work and pursue worthless degrees. Will be significant skills gap in tech and software for decades to come.
I don't really know anything about the population statistics of different generations. Perhaps I should. What's a "skills gap" exactly?
There's a lot of jobs in software and tech that go unfilled because not enough qualified people to fill them. Even now with all the tech layoffs, it's really easy to get a software job.
https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2022/whos-not-working-in-the-us-learn-the-basics Many rather play games
Great article. So nearly 20% of the non employed, just don't want to work. I bet they're the same who don't want foreigners in Murika.
I think demand for software and tech is growing so it feels like there aren’t a lot people going into those fields. It’s other skills where demand is stable to strong but graduates are shrinking - trades, manufacturing, etc.
When I was an undergrad at UW just after the .com bubble, the undergrad population was something around 30,000 or higher. UW had a good CS program, but they only graduated 80 undergrad CS degrees per year. Since I left, that's expanded, but federal money still funds economically worthless degrees meanwhile the STEM field, especially CS which has great career prospects is artificially limited. Also, many (most?) engineering programs at least major universities are self-sufficient and net bring in money to the school. Although you don't even need a 4 year degree to write good software anyway.
my school: an Ivy produced 200 cs majors at that same period. And following my year you had to apply to be in the major. Since then I’ve heard it’s very difficult to be accepted.
UW was the same way. You had to apply to get into the major. Few were admitted directly out of high school. Most had to apply after their freshman or middle of sophomore year. Took about a 3.7 - 3.8 GPA to get in.