The Text: It’s a common trope that women in the workplace don’t advance as quickly or make as much as their male counterparts because they simply don’t ask for raises and promotions. But according to new research published today in the Washington Post, this is a myth — women do ask, they just don’t get as much in return:
The research focused on career paths of high-potential men and women, drawing on thousands of MBA graduates from top schools around the world. Catalyst found that, among those who had moved on from their first post-MBA job, there was no significant difference in the proportion of women and men who asked for increased compensation or a higher position.
It’s almost everyone’s favorite time of year! No, I’m not talking about Christmas, but the NFL playoffs. The epic four weeks of guts and glory pits the best teams in the football, culminating in America’s most-celebrated past-time: the Super Bowl (I’m still waiting for Obama to make the Monday after a national holiday). Billions across the globe will circle around glowing televisions, devour thousand of calories in nachos and beer, and watch one of the best sporting events on the planet.
The Super Bowl also brings out some of the best creative juices, as all of those eyeballs have become a major locust for brands. Some may argue that the advertisements during the Super Bowl have become as big as the Super Bowl itself. Personally, I still long for the day when the Pets.com hand-puppet could make his triumphant return to the big screen.
The Text: There are 18,000 parking lot attendants in the U.S. with college degrees. There are 5,000 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs. In all, some 17 million college-educated Americans have jobs that don’t require their level of education. Why?
The data comes from a the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and can be seen here in handy, depressing chart form:
At the Chronicle, where the above chart was posted, Richard Vedder argues that maybe we place too much importance on higher education, citing a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research:
This week an extraordinarily interesting new study was posted on the Web site of America’s most prestigious economic-research organization, the National Bureau of Economic Research. Three highly regarded economists (one of whom has won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science) have produced “Estimating Marginal Returns in Education,” Working Paper 16474 of the NBER. After very sophisticated and elaborate analysis, the authors conclude “In general, marginal and average returns to college are not the same.” (p. 28)