Missed potential

ONE YEAR after graduation, more than half of U.S. college graduates are working in a job that doesn’t require a degree. Forty-five percent are still doing so a decade later. So say the findings of a new report tracking the persistent problem of so-called “underemployment.”

In the Feb. 21 report from the Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation, researchers tracked more than 10 million people with bachelor’s degrees who entered the job market during the past decade. They found that those who landed a college-level job after graduation rarely transitioned into jobs not requiring a degree. Meanwhile, 3 out of 4 graduates who started out underemployed were still underemployed 10 years later.

That employment status makes a financial difference. Recent graduates with a college-level job earn a median of about $60,000—some $28,000 more than a typical high school diploma holder, according to the report. Underemployed graduates typically earn just $40,000. They often have substantial student loan debt, too.

A bright spot: Graduates who had at least one internship were more likely to be hired for a college-level job than were their peers who did not participate.

Nonnative work

The proportion of foreign-­born workers in the United States is increasing steadily. According to a Feb. 20 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, foreign-born workers made up almost 19 percent of the labor force in the last half of 2023, up more than 2 percentage points since 2013.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines foreign-born individuals as persons not U.S. citizens at birth and includes “legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that foreign-born, full-time workers earn a weekly median of $945, compared with $1,087 for native-born workers. The Congressional Budget Office in January increased its forecast of the number of foreign workers over the next three decades, citing the recent uptick in illegal immigration and humanitarian parole. —T.V.

Open field for football spending

The NFL announced Feb. 23 each of its teams can spend $329 million for player salaries, bonuses, and retirement packages for the 2024 season. The figure includes a $30 million jump for salaries alone above last year’s cap. Football pay is rising, but no gridiron player—including Joe Burrow, the NFL’s highest-­paid player—made the Top 10 of Forbes’ 2023 list of the world’s highest-paid athletes. Quarterbacks still can’t compete with off-field endorsements for the best golfers and soccer players. —T.V.