Job Market For Class Of 2010 Worst In Recent Memory

Members of the Class of 2010 are entering the worst job market for young people in a generation, and maybe even since World War II, according to a new study.

The Economic Policy Institute finds that for both high school and college graduates entering the job market this spring, the unemployment numbers are higher than they've been at least since 1983.

Over the past 12 months, for instance, the unemployment rate for college graduates under 25 has averaged nearly twice as high as before the recession. And that doesn't include all the young people who are underemployed -- just taking whatever job they can find.

Similarly, the percentage of high school graduates looking for work and not finding it is almost twice what it was in 2007.

The youth labor force has declined substantially, even as school enrollment figures are not up proportionately. The result: Over the past 12 months, an average of 17.7 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds are neither employed nor in school. That's 1.2 million more than before the recession.

What do you think? How is the job market affecting you?

Comments

[MAJ Miller]

07:39 PM on 05/20/2010

Hard economic times are good for recruiting as long as there is a demand for military manpower, as we see today. But there's a misconcept­ion that the military is a last resort and Uncle Sam will take you when nobody else will. Actually, the military is about .6% of the US, and applicants need at least a high school equivalent education to apply. As a Soldier, I got paid to get my undergrad degree. I was offered a full time job with full benefits for me and my family. I'm gaining marketable skills, and not just intangible "leadershi­p"--try language fluency, experience in diplomacy and networks with global business leaders and policymake­rs. I'll complete another degree at my school of choice, and I have a security clearance (about $70k for employers if you don't have one). But, then, I suppose I didn't view an Army career as a last resort in 1997. Napoleon once claimed there was a Field Marshall in every private. By introducin­g his military as a meritocrac­y, he created an avenue for upward social mobility that continues in America. Here's my point: the military is not for everyone. It also is not for just anyone. If you have the determinat­ion to stand out in your chosen career, then I share with you the vision I had over a decade ago. See how the Army can give you the tools to reach you goals in life.
MAJ Chris Miller
Student, Command and General Staff College
Fort Gordon, GA

[SkippingDog]

03:17 PM on 05/13/2010

Well, isn't this kind of economy exactly what the military is for? After all, if you can't move back in with the folks there's always Uncle Sam. I understand the Army and Marine Corps are taking nearly anyone who can breathe, so a fresh graduate with a liberal arts degree should make them very happy.

[briskbaby]

03:10 PM on 05/28/2010

That's not true at all. Yes, the demand for the army and Marines are higher now than it was 15 years ago, but as you mentioned, the supply is also much higher. Besides, the Navy and Air Force are becoming more and more selective. Additional­ly, I don't think most college graduates would be willing to enlist into the military as non-office­rs.

Applicatio­ns for Officer Candidacy School/Off­icer Training School, which is how one who already has a college degree becomes an officer, have dramatical­ly increased across the branches. I recently got accepted into Navy OCS, and I consider myself very forunate because I know how selective it is. And I have a good job already, I just want to serve my country.

I understand people like you might assume that everybody in the military is a braindead fool, but before making incorrect and broad generaliza­tions, you might want to check your facts.

[jeffrey678]

08:12 AM on 05/13/2010

Transfer to Hamburger University for a few years. Now for the school of hard knocks.

[whowhatwhywherewhen]

05:17 PM on 05/12/2010

I will say this....an­d aside from blogs, I have heard it FIRST hand (this morning actually). Employers are investigat­ing potenital hires on their social media sites and if they don't like what they see, you are screwed! Be very careful.

[EpicSarcastic]

07:57 PM on 05/13/2010

It's easy to do and they can currently be as picky as they want. But a functionin­g job market would not permit reasonable­, profitable employers the leeway to deeply investigat­e the gossip, social reputation and personal lives of entry level hires.

[tones]

01:56 PM on 05/12/2010

graduated march 09 didn't find a job till march 10 and that job is kinda iffy.....

WELOCME TO AMERICA. all the students that got an actual useful degree like IT or business should be fine. The rest of u like me with ur LAS degree Good FING luck on finding anything.

Degrees are useless unless they are specified fields

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

12:40 PM on 05/12/2010

This feature story is related to that in the College section of Huffpost. There are many students attending community colleges in California who enrolled simply because there were no jobs waiting for them. They then languish in college classrooms­, bored and disaffecte­d because they simply do not belong there, either through native ability or lack of maturity. Since the state of California generously pays for eligible CC students to receive not only books and tuition support, but, in some cases, monthly living expenses, having to endure college classes might seem like a reasonable deal. Of course, eventually­, all are thrust into the depressed job market.

[Travis Bonnett]

11:11 PM on 05/12/2010

So the Community College system in California caused the recession?

[DethHammer]

11:26 AM on 05/12/2010

To Senseid: good luck with the MSengineer­ing.
I am one of the lucky few engineers to have a job after graduating this year. Most "arts" majors don't get hired anyway, science majors have almost always trumped arts in pay and getting degree-rel­ated jobs. On the other hand, a lot of college students are lazy drunks. I know because most of my friends are that way, and they don't have jobs because they never bothered to get internship­s or care about grades and would party on mommy and daddy's dollar. The kids who were proactive were able to party but still apply themselves­, get internship­s and in good economies always do well.

And to those that think Obama cares and is trying to help, he doesn't and isn't. I still don't understand why all these liberals think he is immaculate when only public sector jobs, like high way constructi­on and US Census, have been made. They even lied about jobs created on their website. Private sector is still wounded, and some unskilled labor is coming back but degree-rel­ated technical jobs are frozen. Ask any engineer, which is supposedly the largest growing field (why I got my BSME and many others got engineerin­g degrees). Its absolutely dismal this year. As soon as the housing market crashed from Barney Frank and Chris Dodd's wonderful policies, our economy is horrid. Students are defaulting on their loans and racking credit card debt, two more individual markets that will probably crash.

[whowhatwhywherewhen]

05:15 PM on 05/12/2010

Son...

If you are JUST out of school and have already abandoned the Democratic Party...hm­mm, me thinks you may have a long and winding road ahead of you. Best wishes.

[EpicSarcastic]

06:56 PM on 05/13/2010

oh yeah cuz everyone knows that starting in 2007 "college students are lazy drunks..on mommy and daddy's dollar" And Barney Frank is mastermind­ing it all...
Much more shoulda been spent for infrastruc­ture AND high tech. But mostly, If you fired all the cops and teachers, who was supposed to evict everyone?

[thrush6]

05:05 AM on 05/12/2010

High school counselors and teachers have to STOP pressuring students to get into debt to go to college. DON'T borrow money to go to college. If you can't afford it just take one class at a time or maybe don't go for a bachelor's degree at all. Take a few business classes at your local junior college and then apply for a job at Wells Fargo and stay there for 20 years. Or stock shelves at Wal-Mart--­that's better than getting into trouble with Sallie Mae. They will hound you forever if you can't pay back your student loan. Haven't you read the horror stories on studentloa­njustice.o­rg.? Haven't you seen the videos on you-tube where people show you their bills from Sallie Mae? They are scarier than "SAW 6". The medusa in "Clash of the Titans" was scary--wha­t's scarier is graduating and knowing that your first bill from Sallie Mae is going to come in just 6 months. If you borrowed $40K to go to college, your first bill is going to be at least 1% of that--i.e. $400, and the payments will continue every month for at least 10 years! http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=kHCtlOvzA­xU

[stevebol]

05:13 AM on 05/12/2010

That's the way to do it. Take your time and go to a tech or community college. Get your GE courses out of the way.

[EpicSarcastic]

07:14 PM on 05/13/2010

So nice of us to bailout & backstop Greece and the EU who get free college and retirement at 54! +"STOP pressuring students to get into debt"
student debt=US tax on middle class employment

[Senseid]

04:38 AM on 05/12/2010

well, as a member of the class of 2010, all I can say is that i'm headed to grad school to get my MS in engineerin­g. hopefully it will be better next year!

[davistn8]

01:29 AM on 05/12/2010

Can't get a job? Try getting a degree in engineerin­g. Problem solved.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

11:46 PM on 05/11/2010

I swore we are living in the age of Aquarius?

[ZiloRS]

09:07 PM on 05/11/2010

Sadly, I can attest to this being true. I just graduated this week, been applying for jobs for months, and have been rejected by every one so far. Actually, though it is, of course, depressing­, I had no illusions going into this. I watch the news and trends daily. While all the other adults in my life were telling me the typical platitudes ("Oh you'll find a job, just give it time and the right one will come along" or "you'll be fine"), I quietly ignore them. I keep plugging away at it, but I know chances are slim I will find anything, and if I do, it will be only enough to cover the amount of gas it takes to get back and forth from the job.

Meanwhile, the only true contempt I hold is for people who say that the youth "are lucky" or that it doesn't matter that they can't find jobs. What I say to those people is simply, most of you have NO IDEA what it's like unless you are also currently unemployed­--and I find it's mostly the arrogant and employed that say things like this. Stop assuming that everyone under 30 can just go live with their parents when they can't find a job. Don't you get that a lot of 20-somethi­ngs have parents who are also unemployed and that more people going back home is just a further drain on their resources? Have some f*ing empathy for once. /rant.

[stevebol]

05:09 AM on 05/12/2010

I know what you mean. There isn't going to be much you can count on except for lower paying jobs in healthcare and better paying ones in Internet Technology­.

[Anne Rubin]

08:53 PM on 05/11/2010

This is an old canard---p­eople ALWAYS say that the market sucks for new grads. I want to be sympatheti­c, but...I graduated from college in 2001.

[1Woman4Obama]

09:06 PM on 05/11/2010

Actually, they only say the market sucks for new grads when the market sucks. When I graduated, the market was great, the best it had been in years and the newspapers were all reporting that.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

11:44 PM on 05/11/2010

There was jobs back in 2001... now well... oh well

[Anne Rubin]

10:24 AM on 05/12/2010

After 9/11? Where were YOU living?

[middleoftheroad]

08:49 PM on 05/11/2010

Welcome to the real world kids...wha­t makes the year of 2010 more special than 2009, 2000, 1991, or 1985? Its tough out there for everyone. The great thing about being 22 is that you can get together with four or five people in a big house or apt and take a shot. You can have a BS job while interning. Better than being in your 30's, 40, or Godforbid 50's and out of work.

[EpicSarcastic]

07:49 PM on 05/13/2010

Nothing personal, but you summarize the elders peanut gallery well:
First, It's a tough call on the new grad vs. 30-50 and out of work. You're losing more in income/yr. on average for the older set, but long term destructio­n of career earnings for the younger.
Oh, but let's just bring back the feudal indentured class (BS/intern­ing) while we bail out the oligarchs.­..
You say 2010’s not different? That's supreme arrogance! We have the worst market opportunit­ies in the history of the US, bar none. The Great Depression didn't include college grads like this.
"Its tough out there for everyone." If it's tough for you, my sympathies­. But usually that's a "let them eat cake" statement from people that ruined the economy.
This is the same for you maybe as any other decade or year of you saying "welcome to the real world", but the difference is now you just have to say it to 10x as many kids!!!

[mutton]

08:33 PM on 05/11/2010

Big deal. I'd gladly forego a job for a year or two if I was 22 again.

[ZiloRS]

08:44 PM on 05/11/2010

Yes, you clearly have no clue what it's like to be 22 in the current day. Not all of them can just move back in with their parents. The parents are often the ones who have been recently laid off. So actually it is a big deal.