1 in 2 New Graduates is Unemployed or Underemployed

1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

Things are getting bad out there, when for one out of two young people, the expensive student loans and college education are not paying off. When one is making 7 bucks an hour flipping burgers or stocking shelves, the student loans are not going to be paid.

Unsaid, that when someone does not get a job in their early 20s, that matches a certain professional level, catching up can be very difficult. Job gaps, low level employment, part time jobs, make it harder later to get that "good job". So if 50% of our young people are coming out of college with their degrees unable to get a job that matches their investment, well the college bubble bursting is next. I am middle aged and warning young people to rethink college because of the cost/pay off ratio being so disjointed. Sadly it looks like they are still selling the college "dream". But how many people seeing their college educated brothers and sisters floundering will make the same choices?

One thing I want to say to young people, think outside the box, think of community and question the old formulas, I and the Reckoner are middle aged, and the formula's failed for us as things started changing by the 1990s, you can still have a happy life, but consider redefining success, and put relationships rather then the careers first. Careers do not pay off like they once did. We learned that the hard way. The world is full of those who are comfortably situated who while living in a bubble, do not understand how the world has changed for the Generation X and under set. Think independently, maybe look to history to see young people that sought a different way of life. I guess that is my best advice, there are many things I would have done differently.

Also see "53 Percent Of All Young College Graduates In America Are Either Unemployed Or Underemployed"--The Squawker