If you think getting your son into Harvard is difficult, try getting him a job in my county (Suffolk, NY) police force.

The NY Post reports:

A person has a better chance of getting into Harvard than of getting a job with the Suffolk County Police Department.

A stunning 29,300 people have applied to take the police exam tomorrow in hopes of getting one of the coveted 400 new Suffolk officer jobs expected to open up over the next four years. Their 1.4 percent chance of being hired is a lot lower than the 10 percent of Harvard applicants admitted….

Lt. Robert Donohue, commanding officer of the Suffolk PD’s community-outreach department, called it a testament to the department’s strong reputation but allowed that much of the allure lies in the pay. NYPD rookies earn a $25,100 base salary; Suffolk cops begin at $57,811 and max out at $94,417, not including overtime….

This is one of those cases that make you wonder what happened to market economics.  Wouldn’t a market solution be, to lower salaries until the applicant-to-job ratio falls from this current 75-to-1 to something more reasonable–perhaps 10-to-1?

I suppose you could argue that the bigger the pool you’re choosing from, the higher the quality of your final picks is likely to be. Still, 75-to-1 seems over the top to this country taxpayer.