There's not much you can do without a degree. Work at McDonalds? Pump gas? Be a cashier at Macy's? Minimum wage jobs basically. If you want a career, you have to get a degree of some sort, with very rare exceptions....
Really? Down here there's really not that many occupations where you have to be degree-qualified.
And having an unrelated degree would not only NOT be an asset, but often you'd have wasted time you could have been getting actual work experience relevant to your field.
Obviously doctors, nurses, psycs, teachers, architects, chartered accountants, engineers, dentists, etc have one degree in their specific field.
But most people I know who earn the big $s have no degree whatsoever - although admittedly some earn so much due to overtime etc rather than their occupation per se - I'm thinking customs and quarrantine officers, emergency services (incl. fire fighters, police, paramedics, pilots, flight attendants, seniors in banking, management in the retail sector, property developers, people working in TV (directors, camara men, etc), builders/plumbers/electricians/etc, ... would a degree be an asset for those sort of occupations in the US??
In fact some of our degree qualified workers are the worst paid - and really do it for the passion not pay - like child care workers and social workers.
Maybe you should consider moving down under - I think our unemployment rate is not so bad as yours too ...
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