But not all college grads have it equally rosy. As the Washington Post's Dylan Matthews has pointed out, the Georgetown report misleadingly sandwiches together plain-old bachelor's holders with workers who have a master's, doctorate, or professional degree. And according to data Matthews cites from the Economic Policy Institute, between 2007 and 2011, 98.3 percent of the job gains in that combined group went to the advanced degree holders. These days, it seems we're really in a grad school economy.

That reality plays out pretty clearly in the unemployment figures, as shown in this chart posted by EPI's Lawrence Mishel. Bachelor's holders, like everyone else, have suffered from much worse joblessness than normal during the recovery. Today, they're still facing 4.1 percent unemployment, well above pre-recession levels. If there was a great shortage of college talent in the labor market, it's reasonable to assume their situation would have improved faster.

But it's not just an issue of whether college grads are finding work; it's the kind of work some of them are getting that's problematic. As shown in this next graph from the Georgetown report, since the recession began, employers have hired more than 700,000 bachelor's holders into what are usually considered middle-education occupations -- jobs where only half to three-quarters of employees have at least some college. Think dental hygienists, cops, and travel agents. Another 185,000 are in low-education positions. Think McDonald's or your neighborhood coffee shop.

To be fair, those numbers aren't quite as ominous as they sound. Many of these jobs are simply more sophisticated than they used to be and therefore require increasingly educated employees. Manufacturing workers need to operate more advanced, computer-operated machinery. Sales agents have to understand technology they're pitching to prospective buyers. Hospitals want more nurses with bachelor's. In a report last year, the Georgetown Center referred to that evolution as "upskilling."

Usually, when a college graduate goes to work in traditionally low-skill field, they end up earning a good deal than their coworkers without diplomas. Take police officers. Per the Georgetown study:

[A] police officer is considered a middleskill job, but officers with a Bachelor's degree earn 30 percent more than those with just a high school diploma. Much of this gap is related to more employees with Bachelor's degrees working in higher-paying jobs on the police force, such as detectives or supervisors. Another example is a self-employed plumber or other craftsperson who earns more than many college graduates.

In 2009, bachelor's holders in mid-skill occupations make a 43 percent wage premium.

So we're not necessarily looking at an entire generation of underpaid, overqualified barristas. But upskilling can't explain all of the migration of college grads away from traditionally white collar occupations. For instance, according to Georgetown, around 300,000 bachelor's holders have been hired to work in "office and administrative support services." In other words, they're taking jobs as secretaries and clerks. It's hard to see that as anything other than the result of a desperately lousy job market. And it means less educated workers are probably being displaced.