You want to see a scary map that illustrates one of the primary reasons behind Trump? (Click to enlarge or interactive version here and full report here.)

I’d like to see this in terms of %, as maybe the total number of people in those segments changed heavily. But, it is still a pretty scary graph. I am not seeing a lot of hope for people without a college degree. Unions are gone, and what is left is lower paying service jobs. Hopefully we get a federal minimum wage to counter that and bring it up to $15 to $20 an hour (and index for inflation so this stops being a thing we have to do every x years).

Some interesting notes:

Workers with at least some post secondary education are now ~66% of the total employment.

Workers with a bachelor’s degree earn 57% of all wages, but make up only 23% of the workforce.

Of the 11.6 million jobs created post recession 11.5 million went to workers with at least some college education.

What happens in 4 years when it becomes apparent those jobs are not coming back? How are people without a college degree and stuck in a low paying job or no job going to react?

I am really hoping the Democrats get their shit together and offer a “new deal” style program to build a new social safety net, and fill the hole that the demise of unions has left. I don’t like unions, but someone strong needs to be watching out for workers (maternity/paternity, childcare, living wage, paid vacation, etc).

What happens as more people can’t afford a college education? Or go into crazy debt to get one?

The student debt load is insane, and it is decimating young people’s economic future. Trump wants to stop the federal loan program for college and make it 100% private. Which might break the system, and maybe that is good in the short term, but in the long term the USA needs more graduates to stay competitive and help people move up the economic ladder.

I’d love to see debt forgiveness for everyone, or at least the same interest rate banks pay since this is an even better investment in our country’s future. I’d like to see public funding return to state schools and making a 4 year degree free, or at least cheap enough that everyone can afford it ($2,500 to $5,000 a year + indexed for inflation). I’d love to see more apprenticeship / skill based programs as well, because not everyone needs to go to college and do the fluff. Teaching more programming in college, robotics, and other type of growth areas would be nice. The Australian system of capping loan payments based on income is also a decent idea. But, if college is so expensive it just means you are taking ~8% or so on from your population forever for something that could be run cheaper. Although I like it if you don’t pay anything if you make $50k or less.

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