Job Market Tight for Recent College Grads

By ANDY CHO and NICK BENDER

Many recent college graduates in the U.S. are having a difficult time finding jobs and many in the class of 2016 are concerned about what the employment outlook will look like when they enter the workforce.

According to a research done by Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the underemployment rate for recent college graduates in the U.S. was at 44 percent in 2012. The millennial generation makes up for approximately 40 percent of the country’s unemployed population, according to Anthony Carnevale, a research professor at Georgetown University.

They face a shrinking job market, and more competition for fewer positions. Recent Ramapo College graduate, Tom Smolinski, has been having trouble finding a permanent teaching position.

“Having studied to be a social studies teacher, I have been substituting in various districts across the state for the past few months.  Finding a permanent position, though, has been tough,” Smolinski said. He is currently living at home but wants to save enough money to afford his own place.

Smolinski isn’t alone. Eric Balsamo, who graduated from Rutgers University last year, is still searching for a true profession.

“I am working a part time job at a retail store. I’ve been working there for six years now; since before I even started college. Now that I’ve graduated, I’ve been looking for a full-time job that is stable and pays me a good salary but it’s been so hard to find anything, especially in my field of video production,” Balsamo said.

Heather Cho, who graduated Rutgers in 2013 with a degree in Bachelor of Arts, said after several internships it was still hard to land a job.

“I graduated from Rutgers in 2013. During and after college I had unpaid internships with three different companies, hoping to land a permanent and paid job in my field, but it was incredibly hard. A lot of the companies tended to stay away from hiring employees and just took advantage of their interns,” Cho said.

“At the same time, I realized that internships were more suited for upper-middle class kids, who could afford to be working without pay. So I decided to work in retail and 1 and a half year later, I got a full time position at a logistics company,” Cho added. “It isn’t exactly my dream job, but it will help move my career forward and has already helped me move into an apartment.”

But with an improved economy this year, the tight job market is easing for college graduates with a bachelor’s degree.

Employers are planning to hire 11 percent more college graduates from the Class of 2016 than the previous year, according to the survey results from NACE’s Job Outlook 2016.

According to the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED), the unemployment rate for college graduates with a bachelor’s degree has decreased from 3.9 percent in 2012, to 2.5 percent in December 2015.

Lisa Tourdeux, a Ramapo College alum who graduated in 2014, says she had no problems finding employment. “I easily found a job, and was able to find another job as my internship for my graduate school program,” Tourdeux said. She currently lives at home and has not commented on finding a new place at this time.

As the 2016 Presidential Election quickly approaches, many graduates are hoping for big changes to come in 2017.

Tourdeux believes that Democrats have been more positive towards each other than the Republicans candidates have been. She predicts that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination and Marco Rubio will win the Republican nomination. “However, I plan to vote for Bernie Sanders,” she said.

The presidential election sees an overwhelming support from the millennial generation, especially towards one particular Democratic candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders. As the oldest candidate in the run, Sanders boasts authenticity and attracts many young voters with his millennial-friendly policies, including jobs and affordable college education.

Balsamo is also a supporter of Bernie Sanders. “I’m just really in favor of his approach and policies, like raising the minimum wage and offering workers guaranteed family leave. I also think he’s the only candidate that will actually do something positive for our generation,” he said.

Smolinski predicts that Democratic contender Hillary Clinton may win the Democratic nomination unless Sanders can gain more support and encourage people, especially young college students and graduates, to go out and vote. As for the Republicans, he is not sure if many people will go out and vote for Donald Trump. Overall, he believes it will be a very interesting race.

With the Iowa Caucus wins by Clinton for the Democratic camp and Ted Cruz for Republicans, many college students look to New Hampshire as the battle for U.S. presidency will impact their futures.