A Historical Examination of the U.S. Telecommunications Labor Market’s Link to University Education

This report examines the trends in the experiences of U.S. journalism and mass communication students and graduates who picked a broadcast specialization and how academic programs in the country have tried to respond to the challenges that have been brought to the traditional media by the economic crisis and by the new technologies. Graduates of U.S. journalism and mass communication programs have confronted a very tough job marker in recent years. The data reviewed in this article show three historical patterns of importance for the broadcasting and telecommunications segments of the U.S. labor market. First, the industry has enjoyed a very close relationship with universities that provide the vast majority of its entry-level employees. Second, the market for the graduates being produced by those programs is very weak. Third, university enrollments have not been greatly affected by the weak labor market, though there are suggestions that enrollments may be about to decline. So far, the universities have responded to the industry changes by adding course offerings focusing on skills that the new market seems to require, but they have not altered their basic structures.