&gt; in the US, getting a job as a barista or fast food is possible, but a horrendous waste of a college education.<p>Maybe. Not all college educations are created equal. Got a major in philosophy? You&#x27;re not useful to the economy, there are no jobs and no one is wasting your education. Of course the example here is facetious, the point is this: If you have a college education&#x2F;degree in something that is not marketable to the economy, the waste is not the economies fault, but that of whomever pursued that education.