To be or not to be ... a university student ?

It seems that there's a lot of heated debate going on about the state of university students in Canada, their (over)qualification and their (under)employment status.

If you read Yasmin Jaswal's account :
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/canada-grad-students-overeducated-underemployed-214613448.html
you may get the impression that young people should not go to university at all. Its a waste of time, since you're not likely to get a job.

BUT WAIT!!!!!

If you read what Statistics Canada has to say :
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-599-x/81-599-x2009002-eng.htm
you see that university graduates are actually much better off than the rest of the labor market, since "the 2008 unemployment rates of individuals with university (4.1%) or college (4.9%) credentials with the unemployment rates of those with high-school graduation (6.6%) or less (12.0%)"

So what's going on? is a university degree (or a college one for that matter) is a good thing to have? or not?

The truth, it appears, lies between the numbers. More accurately, it seems that in the process of averaging everyone together, we are loosing the higher resolution of the situation. That is, the short answer is (as it usually the case) "it depends".

If you read through CIBC's report on the labor mismatch
http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/if_2012-1203.pdf
you see that while some professions are facing a labor surplus (meaning, less hiring, stagnating salaries), there are many professions which are experiencing a labor shortage.

With the risk of oversimplifying reality, I will conclude with this:

Q: To be or not to be ... a university student ?
A: It depends on what profession you are considering.