The unemployment rate for college-educated workers under 25 is 9 percent, double the rate of workers over 25 holding a bachelor’s degree, according to a recent analysis by the Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Group.
Many recent graduates are underemployed. A study released last week by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University found that just 53 percent of recent graduates with four-year degrees had full-time jobs and were not planning to return to school. Those who found work earned a median salary that is 10 percent less than it was four years ago.
The report, “Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy,” found that only half of recent college graduates are likely to find that their first job will require a college degree.
While salaries are on the decline, college costs have continued to rise at a rate higher than inflation with the average student loan debt for Ohioans totaling $25,840, according to the Project on Student Debt.
Nationally, the money owed for student loans surpassed outstanding credit card debt in 2010.
Sean Creighton, executive director of the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education, said unemployment numbers reinforce why advance degrees are ultimately worth the investment of time and money.
“When you look at unemployment, there is a clear distinction between those who have a college degree and those who do not,” said Creighton, adding 60 percent of the “jobs of the future” will require advanced degrees.
National unemployment data and responses from the Rutgers study mirror the recent struggles of area students and graduates who are competing in a tight job market against older, more experienced workers, often for lower-wage positions they didn’t plan on seeking. Officials from Miami University said that while on-campus job postings and interviews are up, they have not returned to prerecession levels for graduates.
Results from the Rutgers study, which surveyed 571 students nationwide who graduated between 2006 and 2010, mirrors the national unemployment rate with 9 percent of the study participants reporting they were unable to find any work or weren’t looking.
Half of recent college graduates surveyed by Rutgers reported being hired for some type of work within six months of graduation, but 30 percent of those jobs were not directly related to their field of study.
“Only about one-quarter of graduates said that their first job was the beginning of what they hoped would be their career,” the study revealed, while 46 percent said they felt they were on the right track.
When it comes to schools’ value for the money, other research shows a disconnect between administrators running schools and families paying the bill. A recent pair of Pew Research Center surveys found 57 percent of students and their families thought American higher education was doing a “poor” or “fair” job for the money. School presidents were asked the same question and 76 percent said they were doing a “excellent” or “good” job.
But the numbers do get better: Of adults 25 and older, those with a bachelor’s degree had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers who had only earned a high school diploma had a rate that was more than twice as high at 9.7 percent.
And as the employment rate improves with a college degree, so does the paycheck. The median weekly earnings of someone with a bachelor’s de-gree in 2009 was $1,137, according to federal data — nearly twice what workers with only a high school diploma earned.
The message local and national higher education advocates continue to share is that the economy will eventually come back and most jobs will require a higher education degree of some sort.
“The data continues to show the jobs of the present and the future are going to require an educated work force,” Creighton said. “I think the hard data makes the case for the transition to a knowledge economy.”
Creighton recognizes recent graduates are having a tough time. Still, he believes the job market is improving. “I think there will be lots of opportunities for those students, maybe just not right out of the gate.”
About the Author