Why a College Degree Has Become More Important After the Great Recession, Not Less
May 22, 2018
With unemployment at record lows, 2018 is a good year to be a college senior graduating into the American labor market. Nine years ago, with the economy still on the way to the bottom of the recession, it was a different story. In May 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. President Obama gave his first college commencement speech at Arizona State University that year, and after the pleasantries, he got right to the point.
"The economy remains in the midst of a historic recession, the worst we've seen since the Great Depression," said Obama in his address. "The result in part of greed and irresponsibility that rippled out from Wall Street and Washington as we spent beyond our means and failed to make hard choices."
Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University, introduced President Obama at that 2009 commencement. As part of our coverage of the financial crisis and its aftermath, Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal sat down with Crow to discuss the state of higher ed since the recession, and how that past is shaping the future.
Source: Why a college degree has become more important after the Great Recession, not less by Kai Ryssdal, Marketplace