After graduating in 2008, I fell into a job market experiencing historic constraints. Along with fellow graduates, I limped through the hiring process. I e-mailed dozens of resumes to companies both within my graduated industry and outside with nearly no success, no scheduled interviews and no prospects.
It was not until more than sixteen months after my graduation that I was offered my first post-graduate job, outside the industry of my degree.
The unemployment rate has exceeded 10%. For recent college graduates under the age of 25, the unemployment rate was 9.3%. While this is below the national unemployment percentage, it is not a number to celebrate; especially when one considers that the unemployment rate for the same group last year was 6.6%.
Even worse is that newly graduated students—many of us who are unable to find work within our own industries—begin to look for jobs that do not require a college education or any specialized degree. For instance, I was able to support myself (barely) by working for a retail sporting goods store for $11.25 an hour. Currently, none of my college friends enjoys a job within our college education specialty with only a painful few receiving a non-hourly salary.
The reliance on hourly wages or non-specialized employment underlines a critical problem for recent graduates: the growing debt incurred by my generation. The average graduate from the class of 2007 enjoyed a student loan debt of about $20,000. For 2008 graduates, that amount has exceeded $23,000 on average. This education debt is paired with historically high credit card debt for graduates who are now struggling to find jobs in a pained economy.
In hopes of reigning in the costs of daily life, many recent graduates have looked to their parents for help, moving back home. According to CNNMoney, the percentage of 2009 graduates who return home after graduation tops 80%. While this seems like a safe option for many grads, the move back home can also burden those households already struck hard by the recession. Similarly, the move back home may also negatively affect the chances of a graduate finding a career-oriented or lucrative job.
It is easy to lose sight of the problems that our age group faces in this economy when the news focuses so dramatically on the economic recovery of JP Morgan & Chase, Goldman Sachs and the Dow Jones Industrial. However, my classmates and I are now struggling to make ends meet, start our careers and dig ourselves out of debilitating debt. The prospects are not good. The recession, as far as I am concerned, is not yet over.
Photo Credit: carbonnyc
Author: Mathew Nolet – After graduating in May of 2008, I was suddenly thrown into a world of adult-themed drama, armed simply with a degree and a overstated desire for financial well-being. Now, almost two years later, I find myself still woefully indebted and only slightly more gainfully employed. In an effort to distract myself from the daily grind, I enjoy a mix of politics, gastronomy, and American football. Oh. And beer.
Hey Matthew,
I definitely am experiencing what you are talking about. Its tough, but it is important to keep positive. Something will swing around! Most likely when you least expect it. We can be hopeful — Keep at the push.
I'm very lucky, because the skillset I acquired in college has allowed me to support myself. I'm not making as much as I did last year, but I'm self-employed, doing what I love, and paying the bills doing it.
The situation is unfair, and Millennials hate unfairness.. We did nothing to create it (if anything, our tween spending in the 90's helped the bull economy) and we've spent our time doing what we were told to do: work hard, study, get good grades, graduate from a good school.
But we have reason to give thanks. We're not 60 years old and unable to retire, looking for work. We're not manufacturing plant workers in Detroit with limited education and skills. We're young, we're economically and socially literate, and we're mercurial. We can change with the times easily and work at Starbucks or Express until things ease up. I am more concerned for the people who can't get hired anywhere; people who have children, mortgages, and obligations we don't yet.
I feel your pain Matthew. After four years of college, an internship, followed by two years at a trade school, I too am unemployed. It's that swift kick in the pants you just never saw coming.
With your hopes riding high after graduation, it's hard to imagine the trouble that's become of an entry level job search. In my opinion, the hardest part of the whole process is forcing your ears to suffer through another person giving their ten cents on finding a job. That, coupled with learning a friend of yours bought a new car or receiving a text about how someone just got the offer they put on a house accepted. Ugh.
But, through the entire process, I can admit I have learned a few more things about myself that will help tremendously in the long run. It's the desire we instill within ourselves that will ensure the job we finally land will be kept with pride that cannot be understood.
So Matthew, keep that chin up. Those of us who suffer through these trying times are the ones who will shape a better tomorrow.
Lauren, I echo your sentiment exactly. While it does suck for recent college grads, we actually have it a lot better than other demographics out there. At least most of us won't starve. We don't have as many financial obligations as parents with multiple children to feed, dress, etc. We don't all have new car payments. We don't have a mortgage to pay. We may have student loan debt, but that's actually at a fantastic rate (relatively) to the debt single mothers are putting on their credit cards to pay the bills. And we have our WHOLE LIVES ahead of us. We have college educated-skills to get us through these hard times.