Is it still worth going to university?

[Music] Earning a degree used to lead to a steady job with a good salary. But . But today, young graduates in the West are finding fewer employment opportunities . So, is it still worth going to university ? [Music] The unemployment rate of young graduates in America is now approaching the same rate for the age group as a whole . In 2010, there was around a 6 percentage point difference in unemployment between young people and young graduates . But now, there's just a 1 percentage point difference between them . It's not just in America . In the European Union, the unemployment rate of young people with tertiary education is now approaching the overall rate for that age group . One theory for this is that universities are accepting less talented applicants and then they aren't teaching them very well . This could lead to employers not expecting much of a difference between the average graduate and then someone who didn't go to university . Another theory is that fewer jobs need graduate level qualifications . [Music] For example, in the past, you often needed to attend a university in order to understand how to use a computer . On the frontiers of science, the strange world of the computer . But today, almost everyone can use tech regardless of whether or not they went to university . The number of jobs in graduatefriendly industries is also decreasing . Across the EU, the number of 15 to 24 year olds who were employed in finance and insurance fell by 16% from 2009 to 2024 . And since 2016, the number of British 20somes in law and finance has fallen by 10% . It's tempting to blame AI for these waning opportunities . [Music] Yet, the decline in graduate jobs started long before Chat GPT . What's more likely is that the industries that traditionally employed graduates have had a tough time lately . Since the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2009, the golden age of investment banking is over . So, they're