Why Are So Many College Graduates Driving Taxis?

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- It’s a parent’s nightmare: shellingout big money for college, then seeing the graduate unable toland a job that requires high-level skills. This situation maybe growing more common, unfortunately, because the demand forcognitive skills associated with higher education, after risingsharply until 2000, has since been in decline.

So concludes new research by economists Paul Beaudry andDavid Green of the University of British Columbia and BenjaminSand of York University in Toronto. This reversal in demand hascaused high-skilled workers to accept lower-level jobs, pushinglower-skilled people even further down the occupational ladderor out of work altogether. If the researchers are right (whichis not yet clear), the consequences are huge and troubling --and not just for college grads and their parents.