Unemployed College Graduates As Vulnerable As High School Dropouts To Long-Term Unemployment: Report

College graduates and advanced degree holders, once they are unemployed, are as vulnerable as high school dropouts to long-term joblessness, a new study has found.

Thirty five percent of unemployed college graduates and those with advanced degrees have been without a job for more than a year, the same rate as unemployed high school dropouts, according to a Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative study published Wednesday. In fact, the long-term unemployment rate, for those 25 and older without a job, is nearly the same across all levels of educational attainment, the report says.

"A slowly rising number of job vacancies...hurts people regardless of their educational attainment," said Gary Burtless, labor economist at the liberal think tank Brookings Institution. Nonetheless, he added: "Relatively speaking, there's still a payoff to going to college. The college degree still has some vaccination effects against becoming a long-term unemployed person."

Indeed, getting a college degree is a good bet for avoiding unemployment in the first place. The unemployment rate of college graduates who are at least 25 years old is just 4.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In contrast, 13.8 percent of high school dropouts, 8.7 percent of high school graduates, and 7.7 percent of college dropouts are unemployed.

The percentage of the labor force that faces long-term unemployment is at a record high of 2.8 percent, according to the Pew report. Thirteen million Americans are unemployed, 4 million (or 31 percent) of whom have been unemployed for more than a year.

Republicans and Democrats have clashed frequently over federal unemployment insurance ever since the unemployed first became eligible for 99 weeks of benefits at the end of 2009.

Once Americans are out of work for more than a year, they face a slew of challenges. Even in the most generous states, unemployment insurance benefits do not last longer than 99 weeks. When the long-term unemployed lose government benefits, the anxiety can be crushing.

The long-term unemployed also often face job discrimination, as many employers prefer to hire workers with fresh experience. A number of employers require job applicants to be "currently employed" in order to be considered for a position.

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Comments

[quillerm]

08:03 PM on 05/18/2012

I have yet to be impressed by the quality of most college graduates. I would rather hire a veteran with average experience in the demands of military service. Someone who has traveled the World, has experience in other cultures, utilized the most advanced, state of the art equipment in construction, medical science, bio-medical applications, business, finance, graphics, and hundreds of other skills. Why would we want to hire someone trained by a professor, who has never held a real job in his life and spends most of his time teaching students to hate everything that makes America great.

[quillerm]

07:53 PM on 05/18/2012

Unemployed but want to get several hundred thousand dollars in loans? No problem. Just apply for a Student loan and enroll in one of our overpriced Universities. Get a check every month for your apartment, food, beer, cable, etc. If you get bored, just show up for class from time to time. When you have spent six or eight years partying your way through college, and the bill comes in, don't worry about it. Get a low paying job, pay back your Student Loan at a reduced rate based on income, it will disappear after 20 years. The rest is paid by taxpayers (suckers).

[l78lancer]

08:39 PM on 02/08/2012

There is s subtle but troubling message in this story. It almost seems to discourage or devalue education today because the job market is slow, when a highly educated workforce will be absolutely necessary to create new markets, new industries and new technologies that will help America turn the corner and accelerate again to the top of the industrialized world.

One big problem is that employers don't seem to be willing to pay salaries that recognizes the value of education which, in some ways, places eollege educated persons at a disadvantage with lesser educated persons. This is particularly true when the market for higher-paying positions is so limited and degree and nondegreed persons must compete for the same lower paying positions. Most job seekers with degrees are very familiar with the term "over qualified." Couple that with the fact that while jobs are being created, they are still not being created at the rate needed to offset unemployment satisfactorily, production jobs are still being shipped over seas and jobs are being created in some areas of the country while potential job applicants may live in different parts of the country.

Times are still tough for degreed and nondegreed job seekers. But we have to be careful to not desuated people from education and undermine the value of education in this nation if we are to regain our status as the top producer and job creator in the world.

[Cinque McfarlaneBlake]

08:11 PM on 05/19/2012

i think an issue many people are having is that we are now equating school and college with education, where education transcends any institution.

[LisaDouglas]

10:25 AM on 02/06/2012

Since, "a number of employers require job applicants to be "currently employed" in order to be considered for a position" several friends with advanced degrees have been eliminated as potential job candidates. Where does that leave these highly educated, experienced members of our society? If their work history is solid and they meet the potential employers needs, why should they be cast out of the running simply due to unfortunate circumstances?
Lisa Douglas
Raleigh, North Carolina

[lofttypeofaview]

08:21 PM on 05/17/2012

What these employers are doing is effectively punishing those whom became unemployed before securing another job because they expect that an alert, intelligent employee, should know that their occupation/employment is due to become obsolete; either altogether and/or just within their company. For instance the banks have been announcing future layoffs but prior to the announcement these employees were already having bonuses/salaries/hours/benefits cut, that would be an indication that the job itself; is next. Unfortunately not every job has those warning signs directly but employees should always be on the look out for indirect signs, that their career is being done away with. An employee should be able to notice if their business is losing business, when that loss appears to be about twenty five percent; it's time to start searching for another job.

[mundungus]

06:31 PM on 02/05/2012

This isn't new, I have been understanding this fact for the last three years.

[Meils]

05:32 PM on 02/05/2012

no surprise there

[trioxdog]

12:28 AM on 02/05/2012

It is so sad that one can go to college in this great country and do all that society demands of them only to be treated unfairly. We do this in hope of becoming great citizens and with the hope of getting better opportunities to take care of our families. However, we are slapped in the face by rejection and discrimination of all sort; from age to race bias. Only luck can help us get by in this age.

[twitch1956]

08:41 PM on 02/04/2012

I quit my job as a social worker for a 401(b) charity in Oct. After ten years of dealing with issues that didn't seem to get better I was burned out. Thankfully I have my military pension (20yrs Air Force) and saved almost 20 thousand over the years.

I have chosen not to work this winter. I am 55 years old. I live in Alaska. And I have had people call me to come to work for them when they heard I was available. Guess I am lucky eh?

[emptier]

09:57 PM on 02/04/2012

guess im going to alaska wtshtfan

[demilieu]

02:16 PM on 02/04/2012

Yes, that's my situation. With degrees and qualifications in a specific field, anyone outside that field won't hire you because they figure you're going to still seek, and eventually find, work in your trained field. The exception would only be for retired folks. I'd settle doing minimum wage hold-over work for now to make a little money to get by, but I can't find a company who'll touch me. I've tried Target, Lowes, Home Depot, Toys-R-Us, Kroger's Randalls, UPS, Fed Ex...I'm 52.

[mundungus]

06:33 PM on 02/05/2012

We actually have become an overeducated bunch of idiots. The America of post World War II was a lot better since people didn't have to have degrees for a lot of jobs. The sad thing is that college's educated people and then they go to work. Before, companies would actually train people. Now companies save money to not train anyone, yet we have to pay a bunch of money for education. Something isn't right. More kids knowing this will just drop out of school and say, "what is the point?"

[lofttypeofaview]

08:26 PM on 05/17/2012

If you are applying for a position that doesn't have a use for your credentials, don't divulge that you have them; so that you won't be considered over qualified.

[Epilef2000]

12:03 PM on 02/04/2012

I have many friends (and my self) who took calculus only to have to retake algebra in college as a required course, or take biology and chemistry again (not even an advanced chemistry that builds on high school courses). There are many students who know they want to be a lawyer or certain degrees, but we have to have an undergraduate degree, unlike other countries where you can graduate highschool and go straight to law school. Now, my professor tried to tell me that undergraduate work helps a student gain greater knowledge so its helpful, and my response wall..well if undergraduate degree prepares better law students why not require law students to have graduate degree. Better yet, require law students to be Phds in their fields before applying to law school, then we can create the best lawyers. The slippery slope of useless courses is a danger.

Secondly, I graduate high school with taken AP calculus, AP US history, honors Englishs, etc, and with graduated with honors, and my best friend graduated with arithmetic classes and below average English. Why do we graduate with the same high school diploma? Both of us went to college, and he graduated with only taken algebra (as requisite for graduation) and two required English classes, no history etc. So my question is, why should students take calculus, advanced English or any advanced or honors classes if your high school degree and college degree is valued as someone who worked less.

[lofttypeofaview]

08:32 PM on 05/17/2012

If your friend has a learning disability, they didn't work less and might have even worked more but with less, than you did.

[William Graham]

10:16 AM on 02/04/2012

Take advice from one who has been there.

When you are let go (people are usually neither hired nor fired due to skills) keep yourself employed at volunteer work, attempts at re-employment, and networking. Use all the available tools not to sit at home waiting. No to drugs or alcohol. Work at getting work -- but not too much, and start immediately. Create room for your imagination to wander too.

You will eventually -- maybe not soon -- get a new position. Do not lapse into going back to school for a common degree -- too many are useless. Seek along lines of your desires.

[demilieu]

02:23 PM on 02/04/2012

Face-to-face networking is the best way. Getting involved with (most) any type of group that will get you in face to face contact with others is the way to go. A Linkedin profile is good to have, but it's not a good way to network for jobs. I'm not religous but I'd bet being active in something like a church group could bring job leads. People hire people they know.

[corte33]

12:59 AM on 02/04/2012

Lots of people go to college because they can't get a job. They get a flunky degree, which is useless. Then they go to grad school, with another useless major. If you're a good programmer, you can be a high school dropout and get multiple offers. It's about supply and demand.

[William Graham]

10:24 AM on 02/04/2012

I did not find being an accomplished programmer a ticket to employment as easily as you imply. Of course, breaks and luck, and being in the right place at the right time helps. Many programmers have fled overseas where the work is: Israel, India, Indonesia. Eastern Europe has highly skilled computer hardware people.

[Epilef2000]

11:48 AM on 02/04/2012

it doesn't help that the tech industry is importing cheap (but quality) labor from India and other countries which helps depress American wages and displaces American workers through the H1B visa...its is about supply and demand the supply, supply is much cheaper from those educated from abroad.

[Kenz300]

10:21 PM on 02/03/2012

End the H1B Visa program and quit bringing in college graduates from other countries when we have plenty of college graduates here.

Maybe we should require that employers trying to use the H1B visa program hire through a special placement group first. I would bet that there would be a lot of qualified applicants.

It is time to put Americans first.

[cosmicdart]

11:14 PM on 02/03/2012

Sometimes a company is foreign controlled, and so they prefer to hire their own whom they can trust rather than have sensitive proprietary information fall into the wrong hands. Sometimes illegal money is laundered that way, or powerful connections are gained. There are many secret ways in which companies are able to drive away all of their honest and ethical competition. You never know what you're getting into when you join the Dark Side.

[emptier]

10:15 PM on 02/04/2012

sounds like the tried and true american business model in third world countries, you simply don't do business in a country you did not plan to exploit, that is classic capitalism

[eschichl]

03:19 AM on 02/04/2012

actually that is bad advice, as the economy is global and you can connect anywhere in the world all that will do is move more jobs overseas. only exception might be virus and security protection otherwise most jobs can be done off shore

[emptier]

08:25 PM on 02/04/2012

tell that to your plumber

[websmith]

09:45 PM on 02/03/2012

Co0llegte degrees are not a guarantee that you are getting a good employee that knows what they are doing. The biggest idiot that i ever met had a degree from Harvard.

[lofttypeofaview]

08:45 PM on 05/17/2012

That is because like a computer, the brain also can learn/remember so much. If a person is overloaded with information within a sector of life, they don't achieve much outside of the realms that they aren't accustomed to. I knew a podiatrist whom couldn't change a flat tire and Einstein was never able to learn how to tie his own shoes.

[cosmicdart]

09:06 PM on 02/03/2012

Employers rig the system so as to create surplus unemployed or underemployed workers cuz it keep worker compensation low and profits high. Surplus labor is the nature of the Capitalistic Beast. The problem is: How do all these surplus people who are engineered into the Means of Production survive without taxing society too much? Capitalist want the advantage of surplus labor, but not the liability. When the cost of this liability comes out of their profits in the form of social welfare taxes they complain about the problem that nurtures them. Is there a solution?

[emptier]

10:17 PM on 02/04/2012

Easy one, vote Ron Paul

[kbella]

11:52 PM on 04/29/2012

Hardly. Ron Paul wants us all to be helped by charities. Just go back a couple of hundred years and you'll see how well that worked out for poor people.