The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Student Survey shows that less than 20 percent of 2009 graduates who were looking for a job have actually found one. In comparison, more than half of the class of 2007 found jobs before graduation. The situation is apparently so bleak that many college seniors (about 41 percent) didn’t even bother to look for work this spring.
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The 2009 NACE survey indicates that 73 percent of students who did find jobs had been interns somewhere, but it’s not clear how many of those students ended up working in the field for which they had interned. No doubt, some unpaid internships are a form of labor exploitation, but they can still function as a kind of “finishing school” that teaches students how to behave professionally. And the process of identifying and interviewing for internships may help students negotiate the hiring process in any field.
Things to think of for E.
From the Chronicle.
And other bad news:
A majority of college graduates 25 and under are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree — if they’re working at all — concludes a survey by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. From McClatchy News:
â€I’ve never seen it this low and we’ve been analyzing this stuff for over 20 years,†said center director Andrew Sum.
Only about a third of Asian female graduates and black and Hispanic male graduates are in jobs that require a degree. Except for Asian males, who have the highest college-level employment rate, women are more likely to be in college-level jobs than men. (I have no clue why the spread is so wide between Asian males and females. More technical degrees for the guys?)
It’s not going to get any better any time soon.
Employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors for entry-level positions this year than in 2008, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
from Joanne Jacobs