me_irl

Yes, you used to be able to walk into a role that took anyone who could turn up and learn, but technological and economic demands mean that its no longer viable.

Economic demands, sure, but I would argue that is more a result of policy than anything insurmountable. Technologically, not at all. I'm guessing you're in NZ, based on your username, and I won't pretend to be able to speak for conditions there, but I would say a great many of the jobs in the US demanding a degree do not actually require them. I'm not saying that we should completely eliminate degree requirements, but companies should be expected to pay the costs of training. There are so many jobs out there that require little more than basic computer skills, learning to use whatever specialty software they make use of, and the workflows of the particular job site. A university education is overkill to teach basic computer literacy, and the other two often wind up things that you will only learn upon beginning the job. For many others, an associate's or some form of professional certification is probably enough to really get you up to speed on the essential knowledge to work in many industries.

Proper apprenticeships are not terribly common here, and along with trades as career paths, have suffered from decades of anti-union agitation. Outside of areas with strong unions, trades can be shockingly poorly paid. I see more people just not going to university because they don't see much point to it, as degree inflation essentially means they need to get a Masters or PhD to even stand out now, and they don't see themselves doing that. If I wind up working with the same people who got degrees in the fields I have any interest or proficiency in, what's the point of taking on that debt and doing all that work, only to find myself in the same situation I'm in without a degree?

Meanwhile, universities here will implement austerity measures that result in even more tenuous employment and abysmal pay for professors, yet they seem to have no end of money for ballooning administrative costs, sports teams/facilities and insanely overpaid executives. They always have money for everything except education and research, and reveal their priorities in how they spend their money and where they cut back. Making job training and profit the focus of higher education has simply undermined the institution as a whole, here.