1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed

[pwaldo]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-2-gr...HRlc3QD;_ylv=3

The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.

A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.

Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.

An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees.

Opportunities for college graduates vary widely.

While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.

Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for," says Michael Bledsoe, who described months of fruitless job searches as he served customers at a Seattle coffeehouse. The 23-year-old graduated in 2010 with a creative writing degree.

Initially hopeful that his college education would create opportunities, Bledsoe languished for three months before finally taking a job as a barista, a position he has held for the last two years. In the beginning he sent three or four resumes day. But, Bledsoe said, employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Now he sends a resume once every two weeks or so.

Bledsoe, currently making just above minimum wage, says he got financial help from his parents to help pay off student loans. He is now mulling whether to go to graduate school, seeing few other options to advance his career. "There is not much out there, it seems," he said.

His situation highlights a widening but little-discussed labor problem. Perhaps more than ever, the choices that young adults make earlier in life — level of schooling, academic field and training, where to attend college, how to pay for it — are having long-lasting financial impact.

"You can make more money on average if you go to college, but it's not true for everybody," says Harvard economist Richard Freeman, noting the growing risk of a debt bubble with total U.S. student loan debt surpassing $1 trillion. "If you're not sure what you're going to be doing, it probably bodes well to take some job, if you can get one, and get a sense first of what you want from college."

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University who analyzed the numbers, said many people with a bachelor's degree face a double whammy of rising tuition and poor job outcomes. "Simply put, we're failing kids coming out of college," he said, emphasizing that when it comes to jobs, a college major can make all the difference. "We're going to need a lot better job growth and connections to the labor market, otherwise college debt will grow."

[ensbergcollector]

A college degree used to mean something when only about half of college graduates went to college. now that a very high majority go, a college degree doesn't mean as much.

[TheTGB]

I'm in the same boat as the person interviewed although my degree is wanted more. I know I'll be working on my Master's soon though.

[duane1969]

I am starting on my Master's as well this fall. In this era a BA or BS is barely more than a glorified high school diploma (with $40k+ of debt in student loans LOL).

As an example of this, in my family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, etc.) my wife was the first to get a degree and I was the second.

[*censored*]

Coming out of college, I had to work part time for 2 and a half years in the field my degree was in before I got on somewhere full-time. Combining that with the fact my my parents lied to me and massively screwed me, I'm swamped in debt (credit cards to be able to even eat at times because it'll be a cold day in hell before I go on welfare, and the requisite student loans) that I can only slowly chip away at to get out from under.

[marekschwarz33]

Hopefully things will turn around soon...I'm a freshman in college (Economics B.S major) so my time to enter the workforce is just around the corner. Debt won't be too much of a problem for me luckily. I'm going to a very affordable school and I'm getting help from scholarships and my parents. I have no clue what the job prospects will be for my degree in the future though. They're seem pretty decent now from the research I've done but who knows...

[themanishere]

The proliferation in soft degrees is unsavory...like getting a degree for the sake of having one. It's unfortunate because many of the liberal art/science fields are interesting, just not "needed" in today's market.

I am very fortunate to have my parents help me with tuition. I work part-time and am in a full-time Master's right now, so it's a big help to have my folks chip in.

I'm considering starting my own business when I finish, given how the market is so volatile. (At least, that's the plan while I'm still young.)

[duane1969]

Hopefully things will turn around soon...I'm a freshman in college (Economics B.S major) so my time to enter the workforce is just around the corner. Debt won't be too much of a problem for me luckily. I'm going to a very affordable school and I'm getting help from scholarships and my parents. I have no clue what the job prospects will be for my degree in the future though. They're seem pretty decent now from the research I've done but who knows...

What field are you hoping to get in to?

[shrewsbury]

college doesn't guarantee a job in your field nor any job, but i think it is a must.
also student loans suck and so does other debts, but at least there are more possibilities.

i do disagree with one thing, there is no such thing as underemployed, you take what you can get and work from there.

many people on welfare won't get a job because it pays too little, that is crap. i have been working since age 15 and have worked some "crap" jobs in my time.
I got an education later than most, got in at an entry level, busted my butt and now have a great job, with great benefits, and good pay. my education helped me get in the door, but the rest was up to me.

[AUTaxMan]

Most kids go to college to play. I have little sympathy for those who can't find work because they only managed to get a worthless BS in business management or a degree in human development and family studies. Want a job? Major in something hard like engineering, math, accounting, science. Want to play? Major in history.