Retirement delayed and broke anyway

[jmbar2]

88. I studied the return on investment to education when i went back to school

It was a class that I was forced to take, and turned out to be the most consequential of my life.

That's where I learned about segmented labor markets, and how the labor market really works. We were all shooting for the American dream job market - you go to school, get a well-paying job and move up the ladder. What we didn't know is that the entry points to the primary labor market are very narrow and path dependent.

To get in on that path, you had to have the right credentials, get in at the right age, and know all the hidden rules for that market. Preferences went to white men. If you step off the right path, you can never get back on.

We thought we were doing the right thing, but all we got for our investment was a rocky ride in the secondary labor markets at best, or routine hourly jobs at worst.

That's why so many people are drowning in student debt. We all thought that if we made the investment, we'd get on the escalator, not realizing that there were a lot more hidden criteria for accessing the American dream.

Our local schools don't even teach career exploration, so we have more generations trying to succeed in a game with many hidden rules and traps. I can understand their anger, but a lot of us boomers were just as much victims as they are.

Capitalism is failing us.