The Cruel Working World

CRUEL WORKING WORLD Which Path Will You Take? JOB CEO d. START INTERN UNEMPLOYED Perhaps you're a youthful, optimistic college student, starting to ponder life after school. Or perhaps you just graduated, finally reaching the end of that wonderful journey of self-exploration and intellectual discovery. You're now faced with a choice: what to do next? We did the research for you and weighed four of the most common paths against each other: job, internship, unemployment, and financial CEO. Which path is right for you? Let us walk you through the options. a b. SO YO U WANT TO G ET A J OB! Most college students perceive getting a job as the ultimate post-college fantasy. We suspect that most college students haven't seen the following stats. Americans are working harder than ever: 122 378 FEB MARCH more hours per year more hours per year than Germans. than the British. (nearly 10 weeks more total) Yet wages aren't increasing: 80% • Productivity • Average overall wages 60% 40% 20% 0% 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 The digital workday is digging into free time as well: TIN 5 A TIN 2 TIN 3* employees is expected to respond to work email while at home. check work email on check work email while on weekends and sick days. vacation. Days off per year: 10 20 30 APRIL APRIL APRIL APRIL United States Japan Canada, the UK, Germany France The US is the only Western nation with o legally mandated days off work per year. And maternity leave is worse in the US than nearly anywhere else in the world: • 52 weeks or more • 26-51 weeks • 14-25 weeks • Less than 14 weeks • None • Unknown Does working yourself to the bone for crappy wages and no time off sound pleasant? We didn't think so. VERDICT: JOB = BAD CHOICE %3D SO YO U WANT TO G ET AN INTERNS HIP! Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track internships, few statistics are available on this ever-popular post-college path. However, those stats that do exist are not promising. Internships are more popular now than ever before. Percent of college grads that held internships: 17% ^ 50% /4-U/2 1/4-/2 Class of 1992 Class of 2008 of internships are unpaid or below minimum wage. And women fill most As do students from poorer families: unpaid internships: 77% F Students from famlies that earn Students from families that earn less than $80K a year are likelier to do them unpaid. more than $120K a year are likelier to be in paid internships. Interns also have fewer legal rights than employees: They cannot file discrimination or sexual harassment suits. For no rights, no pay, and a healthy dose of worker exploitation, internships aren't a bad choice. But who wants that? VERDICT: INTERNSHIP = BAD CHOICE %3D SO YO U WANT TO BE UN EMPL OYED! Unemployment is a very popular post-college choice these days. If they formed their own state, 14M 9.2% it would be the 5th biggest in Americans are of the population. the US. currently out of work. It takes those who lose their jobs roughly 9 months to regain employment - the longest average unemployment period in measured American history. Unemployment is bad for your health: Doctor visits Unemployed Americans spend 5 times as many days in bed as employed Americans, and make 5 times as many visits to the doctor. Days in bed UNEM PLOY ED EMPL OYED MARCH MARCH Does living in your mom's basement for the next 10 years still sound so appealing? VERDICT: UNEMPLOYMENT- BAD CHOICE .. SO Y OU WANT TO BE A CHO! Though we've seen financial CEOS vilified over the last few years for nearly single-handedly destroying our economy, you've got to hand it to them: they're still totally rich! And you can be, too. The richest 10% of America controls two-thirds of our net worth. Top 1% 34,6% Annual Average Tax Savings: 140,000 120,000 38.5% Bottom 90% Top 1-10% 26.9% 100,000 80,000 60,000 This situation has been exacerbated by the staggering tax cuts for the wealthy under George Bush: 40,000 20,000 The richest 0.1% average more than $140K in savings per year. Top 5-10% Top 1-5% Top 0.1% Bottom 20% Second 20% 240% • Productivity • Average overall wages • Average income of top 1% 220% 200% Remember that graph about wages and productivity from earlier? 180% 160% 140% Here it is again, with income of the richest 120% 1% also shown. 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 Regular jobs are clearly a thing of the past. Internships and unemployment are for the birds. There's really only one thing to do. VERDICT: CEO = GOOD CHOICE! CREATED BY ONLINEMASTERSDEGREE.COM References: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speed-up-american-workers-long-hours * http://raisingtheglobalfloor.org/policies/map- selection.php?policy=pregnancy http://www.bls.gov/lpc/ * http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speedup-americans- working-harder-charts * http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/taxes-richest-americans-charts-graph http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph * http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five- myths-about-interns/2011/05/09/AFBW%T2G_story_1.html * http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/ross- perlins-intern-nation-on-life-as-an-intern/2011/04/25/AFIM527G_story.html * http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/business/the- unemployed-somehow-became-invisible.html * http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/municipal-defaults-municipal-bond-default-muni/6/6/2011/id/34973 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/business/the-unemployed-somehow-became-invisible.html http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/MSUN-8E6QJ3?OpenDocument * http://motherjones.com/politics/2006/05/look- numbers-how-rich-get-richer * http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/with- executive-pay-rich-pull-away-from-rest-of-america/2011/06/13/AGKGgjaH_story.html BY NC ND This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Fourth 20% Third 20% Top 10-20%l > Top 0.1-1%