Justin Ward, Journal Blog -According to a 2016 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are only about 50,000 journalism jobs in the United States and that’s expected to decline 9 percent, or 4,500, by 2026. Competition for this ever-dwindling number jobs is fierce. In that same year, journalism and communication schools graduated about 14,000.
Gone are the days when a person could parlay a part-time job as a copyboy at the Palookaville Times-Picayune into a career as a globetrotting ace reporter. Where once there were many paths to success in journalism, now there is only one—and very few can afford to walk it.
It’s no longer possible forgo a college education and jump right into the news biz. An undergraduate degree isn’t usually not enough either.
You’re competing against people with master’s degrees from Columbia who were doing prestigious unpaid internships while you were dropping chicken wings into a vat of fryer grease until 6 a.m. to avoid taking out another PLUS Loan.
And if you are one of the lucky few who manages to land a job as a reporter, it won’t pay enough to cover the enormous debt you incurred to get it. The median salary for journalists is around $41,000 a year, which is roughly $18,000 below the national average.
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