Job outlook for graduates brightens a bit

KSL's Sunday Edition delved into the tricky world of job markets that this year's college graduates are entering. Bruce Lindsay, program host, described this time, with graduation ceremonies taking place across the state, as an "exciting and scary time" for the 2010 graduates.

This year's graduates face an economy on the rebound from the worst recession since the Great Depression, slightly better news than that faced by graduates from last year, who were thrown into the job market at the tail end of the recession.

Jeff Thredgold, chief economist for Zions Bank, said the recession has been over for nearly a year, ending last July or August, and that the United States is putting out the most positive employment data in 10 years.

"What has been the most serious, the most painful recession of our lifetimes," Thredgold said, "— we call it the Great Recession — is essentially over."

Friday marked the release of April's U.S. Department of Labor job report. The report showed an increase of 290,000 jobs in April, a significantly greater number of jobs than economists had predicted. But with more jobs, more people trying to get those jobs have also impacted the market. Workers who were retired last year are reentering the job market, pushing the unemployment rate up from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent.

"In 33 states the monthly data are beginning to turn positive," said KSL reporter, Candice Madsen, "and that's true in Utah as well."

While students are looking at a better job market, the competition has grown. In 2009, employers hired 22 percent fewer graduates than normal. Even with the positive Department of Labor report, 2010 college graduates will be earning on average 2 percent less than 2009 graduates. Employers are getting a greater bang for their buck, paying less and less for newcomers into the job market.

"Employers are focusing on internship opportunities, which are usually unpaid," Madsen said. "Another challenge for 2010 graduates, they face competition from all the 2009 graduates who still haven't found good jobs."

Thredgold said the biggest difference for employment prospects now is education. Friday's Labor Department report showed the job market is less kind to those without a degree or with only a high school diploma.

Those with a bachelor's degree or higher have an unemployment rate nationally of 4.9 percent. The numbers jump from there. Those with some college are at 8.3 percent unemployment, those with high school are at 10.6 percent and those with less than a high school diploma are the highest at 14.7 percent.

But more is changing than the job market. Now younger generations' attitudes toward work have changed from stagnant career paths to a constantly reworked idea of career choices.

"For my generation or my parent's if you spent 20 or 30 or 40 years with an employer or in the same industry, it was something you took pride in," Thredgold said.

"Young people think, 'Why would you do that? Why don't you go here for three years, learn what you can and then go over here and learn new skills?' It's a very different marketplace."

E-mail: gbarker@desnews.com