The myth of men's full-time employment

(Sigh) The suggestion for improvement is always the same. Get a college degree. Even though college is a largely broken institution with ever increasing questions of return value. At least this article goes a step further by suggesting the government needs to step in and help lower costs, although I hardly see making college more accessible as a reasonable solution to the multitude of problems currently facing academic institutions.

What the ubiquitous prescriptions of college education as a panacea for mass unemployment seem to miss is that, for most, a college degree is primarily a signalling mechanism intended to keep their resume in consideration long enough for it to reach human eyes. Jobs that were formerly held (and performed adequately) by non-degree holders now inexplicably require a degree (or multiple degrees!).

If we could simply flip a switch and grant all American adults a college degree (and the general knowledge that supposedly accompanies it), it seems far more likely that the average job's "requirements" would simply inflate to account for this increase than that we'd see a huge drop in unemployment.