Grads(lg).CMC2015

Challenging Employment Prospects for Class of 2021 Grads

Class of 2020 and 2021 college grads, anxious to shop their abilities amongst employers, will confront a complex labor market post the 2020 COVID-influenced economic meltdown.   As Class of 2021 graduates emerge from the chrysalis of college, seeking entry into the professional class, they may instead queue up behind the 45% of their Class of 2020 peers who are still…

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major_vs_career(lg).CMC/HC2014

Uncommonly Common Advice for Graduates Seeking Collaboration instead of More Competition

As new college grads join the ranks of the career-minded, dutifully employed professional, hopeful yet apprehensive in the concomitant uncertainty, I’m sharing advice from Avni, who’s a few years post college graduation. Her wisdom as she reflected on her few years working full time wrangling adulthood, then wondering what if… I would give two pieces of advice to anyone who…

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Career Planning Is Less Planning and More Trusting Instinct

Many students (and their parents) believe that applying to college begins by choosing a career that will align with one of the many majors on the pull down list of most digital college applications, often wrongly assuming that college is little more than a sophisticated form of job training required in order to achieve lasting prosperity.  Typically, deciding on a career…

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Majors_vs_Career(sm).CMC/HC2014

Labor Market Mirage

In February 2020, approximately 165 million people were employed out of an approximate civilian population of 250 million Americans.  In the economic recession of March 2020, 20 million jobs were lost. Since then, in the interim 12 months, only 10 millions jobs were re-created, leaving 10 million people still seeking employment. Of that 10 million, roughly 4 million people have…

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Comedy: College Vs. Job Market

College Grads Confronted by Diminished Employment Prospects

Many soon-to-be college graduates—in a time of economic upheaval and pandemic induced doubt—fatalistic and full of dread can relate to the most recent college student-produced meme.   Currently, unemployment and underemployment of new college grads is increasing, and gateways to employment like internships and other extracurricular activities are drying up or are suspended at closed or severely-restricted campuses resulting in fewer…

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Chart: Recession opened up a gender divide in CA

Motherly Unemployment Blues

Two income families have become synonymous with modern parenting. Yet, in the recent COVID-induced economic disruption, when women are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than men, the family dynamic may also be shifting.  ….by April [2020] the COVID-19 crisis had created a 3 percentage point gender gap in unemployment.  A similar gap emerged in the share of men…

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Chart: Underemployment Rates for College Graduates, September 2020

Watch Out Below

The most recent underemployment figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, indicating that 43% of 22-27 year old college graduates who are working in jobs that do not require their university degrees, show a nearly 2% increase from February 2020, pre-COVID economic disruption. Yet, as college graduates are usually the last cohort to be more widely affected in…

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2020 COVID-Induced Retreat

First, in Spring 2020, as we retreated into our homes concerned for the health risks of contracting COVID, we re-centered our lives. Following stringent social distancing guidelines, we imported the world to our personal fiefdoms. Thus, we’re spending more on groceries to prepare our own meals, purchasing cable and satellite TV for news and entertainment, and cleaning products attempting to…

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major_vs_career(lg).CMC/HC2014

Unemployment By Educational Attainment

In the current economic upheaval, those individuals with more education are unemployed at lower rates than all other groups. Or by wages, assuming that wage is an indicator of educational attainment, those with $60,000+ in wages have lower rates of unemployment than those earning less than $60,000. However, if the recession during The Great Financial Crisis of 2009 is an…

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The Unemployment Conundrum Continues

Increasing emergency unemployment claims seems to indicate more people have lost their jobs, yet decreasing continuing jobless claims could mean those unemployed are now employed or failed to get a job, thus are or at risk of being permanently unemployed (or those no longer looking for work.) Translation: we either have at best a bifurcated job market or at worst,…

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