College graduates are fleeing Vermont in droves because they have concluded that career-oriented jobs that pay well are unavailable in the state, according to survey results released in late September.
The survey, conducted by the Vermont Department of Labor and St. Michael’s College, indicates that over 60 percent of all college graduates — and more than 75 percent of all college seniors — either plan to leave Vermont to find jobs or have already abandoned the state, reports Vermont Watchdog.
Specifically, only 39.8 percent of the students surveyed said they will stay in the Green Mountain State once they get their diplomas. Just 24.5 percent of seniors said they plan to stick around.
College graduates who have already absconded from Vermont commonly cited a “reported lack of job availability” as the reason why.
Vermont’s Department of Labor paints an unrewarding, dystopian future for Vermonters. Careers — “careers” — with the most projected annual openings include cashier (539), personal-care aide (370), waiter (332), maid and house cleaner (171), landscaper and groundskeeper (154) and child-care worker (152), according to Vermont Watchdog.
The state labor department cites the jobs of statistician, information security analyst and food scientist as a rapidly-growing occupations in Vermont. However, the department expects just five job openings in these exciting fields in the coming years. (RELATED: Obama’s Economy In Action! Just 17 PERCENT Of College Grads Have Real Jobs Waiting)
The population of Vermont is 626,562, and it’s not getting any younger.
“We’re losing the demographic in Vermont,” Lt. Gov. Phil Scott told Vermont Watchdog. “I’ve been talking about increasing economic activity for five years. It seems to fall on deaf ears.”
“People are struggling to make ends meet in Vermont, and they’re working two or three jobs to do that,” Scott, a Republican, also said. “And they can’t pay their property taxes and put fuel in their tanks. What we need is more business enterprises.”
The 223 respondents to the survey by the Vermont Department of Labor and St. Michael’s College were all either students or recent graduates of St. Michael’s, notes the Burlington Free Press. The school is private and Catholic-affiliated.
While Vermont may be no place for a college graduate looking for a good-paying job and a career, it’s a fantastic place for unskilled workers seeking bottom-of-the-barrel, dead-end jobs.
The current minimum wage in Vermont is $9.15 per hour. (The state’s mandated minimum will go up to $9.60 in January. In 2018, it will be $10.50.)
The $9.15 per-hour minimum rate for all workers regardless of what they are actually doing is among the highest in the nation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In July, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — a 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful and a self-described socialist — introduced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Interestingly, Sanders pays his own interns just $12 per hour. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders Demands $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage, Pays His Own Interns $12 PER HOUR)
Sanders is not the only progressive in the United States to fail to provide the higher wages that he preaches.
In the fall of 2014, a socialist party out of Seattle, Wash. that demands a $20-per-hour federal minimum wage advertised a job — on both Indeed.com and Craigslist — for an experienced web developer paying just $13 per hour. (RELATED: Seattle Socialist Party Wants $20 Per Hour Minimum Wage, Offers $13 Per Hour For Website Manager)
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