A college education won\u2019t necessarily fatten your pockets, but the billionaire mayor of New York City has a suggestion he wants students to consider before they sign any costly tuition checks: what about becoming a plumber?<\/p>\n
Yes, that\u2019s career advice courtesy of New York\u2019s Michael
\nBloomberg: the Big Apple\u2019s media mogul-turned-billionaire mayor who
\nrecently led an unsuccessful campaign to ban oversized sugary
\ndrinks in his city. Now after making a name for himself as the
\nnanny of Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg is apparently already
\nconsidering another career change \u2013 this time as guidance
\ncounselor.<\/p>\n
During his weekly radio show on Friday, Bloomberg shared some
\nwords with listeners looking for career advice. It\u2019s no secret that
\njobs are hard to come by nowadays, and the amount of debt brought
\non by unpaid college loans now surpasses what Americans owe on
\ntheir credit cards. Mayor Bloomberg offered his input on the issue
\nduring last week\u2019s show, and said students who aren\u2019t destined for
\nthe top of the class should consider another option that\u2019s not so
\ncostly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who are going to have the biggest problem are
\ncollege graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at
\nthe top of their class<\/i>,” Bloomberg said. “Compare a plumber
\nto going to Harvard College \u2014 being a plumber, actually for the
\naverage person, probably would be a better deal.”<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t spend … four years spending $40,000, $50,000 in
\ntuition without earning income<\/i>,\u201d the mayor added.<\/p>\n
Later, Bloomberg explained that some vocational jobs \u2013 like
\nplumbing \u2013 won\u2019t ever been outsourced overseas or replaced by
\nmachines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to farm that out … and it\u2019s hard to automate
\nthat<\/i>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One day later, the mayor had similar words for the graduating
\nclass of Ohio\u2019s Kenyon College. According to Fox News, Bloomberg
\ntold graduates on Saturday that \u201cI know that today\u2019s job market
\nis not easy,\u201d<\/i> and acknowledged, \u201c…today, if I interview a
\nrecent college grad who tells me he or she spent the summer curing
\ncancer, bringing peace to the Middle East, and writing the Great
\nAmerican Novel \u2014 I\u2019m impressed<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Again, however, the mayor said dreams of being successful
\nshouldn\u2019t be dashed just because college isn\u2019t in the cards.
\n\u201cI\u2019m more likely to hire the person who spent his or her summer
\nworking days, nights, and weekends for an auto-body shop or a
\nconstruction company in order to pay tuition or help with family
\nbills<\/i>,\u201d Bloomberg told the crowd.<\/p>\n
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for
\na manual worker like a plumber in 2010 was roughly $47,000, a good
\n$15,000 a year annually more than other occupational workers pull
\nin. And as MSN pointed out, recent college grads aren\u2019t guaranteed
\nmuch more than hefty student loans: for 2011 graduates, the average
\ndebt went up 5.3 percent from the year before. Bloomberg, on the
\nother hand, was estimated to be worth $27 billion as of this
\nyear.<\/p>\n