For young Americans trying to make their way in a tough economy, getting a skill that’s in-demand will help — but it’s no guarantee of a steady job.

The Wall Street Journal over the weekend reported on the struggles of America’s young adults, who are coming of age in the worst economy since the Great Depression. Five years after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate for Americans under 25 is 15.6%. Those lucky enough to have jobs have seen their inflation-adjusted wages fall, and many are stuck working part-time.

The story focused on a pair of employed-but-struggling 23-year-olds in St. Louis, Emily Koehler, a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Derek Wetherell, who is three semesters shy of a degree from the same school. The friends both majored in social sciences (Mr. Wetherell in political science, Ms. Koehler in an interdisciplinary mix of political science and sociology). That led several readers to wonder whether Mr. Wetherell and Ms. Koehler might be better off if they had studied something with more real-world applications — and, by extension, whether this generation’s struggles are at least partly of their own making.