English: Official logo of the World Economic Forum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The WEF reports that new data shows that millennials with a higher education have a better chance of finding well paid work.

Source: Can you afford not to go to university? – Agenda – The World Economic Forum

I’ll go along with the assertion that university education is increasingly important but it’s not that simple. Firstly, some university degrees are much more useful than others – there are two qualifiers, the status of the university and the subject studied.

However, the article misses the point completely about less academic millennials, they need apprenticeships to learn skills too. Why are these readily available in Germany but less so in other advanced countries?

Overall, there’s an important need to match supply and demand – for now, there are too many imperfections in the education system. Surely, the education system should generate millennials with the right skills to match available jobs? Also there’s a need for millennials to mix more broadly, not just at university. I think there’s an increasing case to bring back national service – this doesn’t need to be restricted to military service, it could cover social care and community work.

Education is important but it’s not a panacea. For many young people practical skills are possibly more marketable than their education.

Thoughts?