Over the past few years, the economic collapse has forced many highly educated people to turn to food stamps and other forms of welfare for help. Over 5,000 PhDs are working as janitors, and many more are working as waiters, secretaries, attendants, clerks, and telemarketers. In fact, the number of PhDs and Master’s degree holders on welfare more than tripled between 2007 and 2010. The infographic below gives us a more detailed look what jobs many college grads are now taking in the “New Economy.”
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Far too many Ph.D. programs exist that confer degrees for worthless realms of phony, useless knowledge. These programs exist precisely because Americans get forced as taxpayers to pay for those worthless programs. It’s little different than taxpayers funding the U.S. Congress’ National Endowment for the Arts, which is little more than make work for hack pseudo-artists.
For years, there have been far more Ph.D.s minted than there are slots in academia for Ph.D.s to work. The 2007-2013 economy has not changed this. Newly minted Ph.D.s who fail to attain work as professors in academia fail because the schools conferring those degrees do not carry much weight in academia or the recipients themselves were so-so.
As to Ph.D.s collecting food stamps, now called, SNAP, it’s merely the case that far fewer Americans feel shame to sponge off fellow Americans by collecting SNAP, even more so since SNAP collectees use EBT cards, which eliminates in-public stigma and scrutiny.