We know that level of education increases income earning potential. For example, Payscale reports that even fast food workers with a bachelor’s degree have the potential to earn $2 to $3 more dollars per hour than other fast food workers. In Massachusetts, however, the situation is getting ridiculous.
In order to apply for a job as a cashier at a McDonald’s franchise in Winchendon, Massachusetts, applicants must already possess a bachelor’s degree. The public school system in the United States of America does teach arithmetic skills, and those with a high school education should be perfectly competent at balancing their checkbooks and capable of working a cash register.
The well-educated applicant must also possess two years’ experience working as a cashier. If only applicants with degrees and experience can get jobs, where does a new member of the working population get that experience? As with many jobs, the unwillingness of management to train new hires keeps many perfectly good applicants out of available jobs. Up until now, “cashier” was considered an entry-level position.
This is most likely indicative of the limited job market facing college graduates, and does high school students and high school graduates a disservice. Fast food cashier used to be an excellent position for a kid paying her way through college, or even a high school student interested in working to make money. If jobs such as fast food cashier now go only to college-educated applicants, then it will be much more difficult for working class college-bound teens and college students to find a way to pay their tuition.
If teens and college age people can no longer find jobs that don’t require a degree, they will have no way to pay their tuition and earn the education that will increase their income earning potential. This does seem like a Catch-22 situation.
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How much education is necessary to perform unskilled labor, in your opinion? Leave a comment and let us know.
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The word “unskilled” would say that it is an entry level position. It doesn’t make sense that there is only a $2 to $3 an hour pay gap between a bachelors degree recipient and a high school diploma recipient, there should be a larger gap. But McDonald’s is too greedy to give up their profits to help out their employees. Every employee buys things in this country, which is part of what helps bolster the economy.