<p>Not to be a messenger of bad news, but the employment situation for our youth seems to continues to be dire.</p>
<p>The new globalized economy is looking for specialized skills. Even after spending roughly $100K (or more) for a diploma, the return on investment seems to be paltry; engineering students seem to be finding it difficult to land internships commensurate with their training. </p>
<p>According to a new report from Economic Policy Institute, the prediction for gainful employment of those graduating from college in 2013 is downbeat. Excerpts below: </p>
<p>What can our kids, and we as parents do differently? </p>
<p>
[quote]
Unemployment among young graduates is extremely high today not because of something unique about the Great Recession that has affected young people in particular, but because young workers always experience disproportionate increases in unemployment during downturns. The Great Recession and its aftermath has been the longest, most severe period of economic weakness this country has experienced in more than seven decades.
<p>What can we do differently, explain that there are places outside of New York, Boston and LA to work. There are many parts of the country that are crying for qualified workers. Also get your child to understand that they are entry level employees and won’t walk into a management position right out of college. Pay your dues, work your way up in your field. Get some roommates so expenses are low.</p>
<p>My daughter just accepted an entry level sales position at a major computer company in Silicon Valley. They are hiring about 300 recent grads, and asked her to tell her graduating friends about this great opportunity- starting with 3 months paid training over the summer with room and board. However, none of her friends are interested in entry level “sales”- she says most of them want to go to law school. To me, this is the best type of ‘business school’ she can get- a real job in a real business. And they offer tuition reimbursement if she decides to do an MBA or grad school units later. But her friends don’t want an entry level job. They would rather keep going to school. Why not? if the parents are paying. My kid just really wants to work. Her independence is really important to her. She hates to ask for money if it comes with a lecture- “Why are you going skiing again?”</p>
<p>@SteveMA: True there are a few states such as North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota that have lower unemployment (7.2 % 9.8%) than the rest of the country (17.3%) [for workers under age 25]. But underemployment in those states seems to be fairly high (12.6 % 17.4%). </p>
<p>Source: Appendix table A1 & A2 referred article</p>
<p>The common complaint of the younger graduates is that they keep applying to numerous on-line job boards, fill out forms at various college recruiting companies’ websites, but they do not elicit any response. I am sure some younger folks will be happy to be gainfully employed in their profession of training at any of the states mentioned. In reality the overwhelming swamping of job boards to any online job posting makes it difficult to be hired into meaningful full time jobs. </p>
<p>@tpshorty: Congrats to your daughter. It looks like some of the parents are encouraging their children to accumulate additional qualifications in the hope it may pay off later, as opposed to encouraging them to take entry level job in which one can gain some valuable marketable skills. </p>
<p>Other parents /young adults want to chime on your approach?</p>
<p>Define “underemployment” for a kid that is fresh out of college??? That is the point. I’m sure they think they are underimployed because they don’t have the keys to the executive wash room…like tptshorty’s D is finding, kids want it all from the get go. Going to law school to rack up $200,000 of debt to get a job that might pay $50,000/year to start is going to look pretty foolish to them when they passed up a sales job that could result in no debt and a nice, high, six figure income by the time those kids start paying on their law school debt…</p>
<p>“Substantial additional investment in infrastructure” = Reeks and Wrecks. Or there is always the army. The ones I know with jobs and internships got them through their parents’ business connections.</p>
<p>TPshorty, it sounds like your D has a good head on her shoulders. </p>
<p>I find that “sales” can be looked down on by college grads, because it seems like something based solely on interpersonal skills, and not what you learn in college, but that is unfair to the profession. There are some sales positions that are very complex, well paying, great career path, and highly professional. Typically in B2B sales, which it sounds like the silicone valley tech company does… Others not so much. </p>
<p>Sales is the “center of gravity” of business, where the rubber meets the road. College kids should to look at the specifics of the job, and not just dismiss it because it is “sales”.</p>
<p>I think that sales requires a certain kind of personality unless you’re selling a product which sells itself.</p>
<p>I have a friend in sales. He went to Community College and one of the CUNYs or SUNYs. He has a gorgeous house in one of the best towns in the area and a private clay tennis court. He was unemployed for a few years after the housing bust but got a job last year and an offer from my company later in the year. He wants to work at my company but he wants a particular type of sales job and we didn’t have openings for those kinds of jobs. He is very, very personable and he cultivates relationships. My feeling is that it doesn’t really matter what he is selling - but he puts the right people together to find a solution.</p>
<p>What worked for my son was a classmate with connections. Son had a ton of interviews but he does not interview well. His classmate lobbied strongly for him and he got the job and everyone is happy. This is in Boston, though, where the hiring market for certain majors may be better than other areas.</p>
<p>Another issue is that people also aren’t retiring as early as before so there are a ton of baby boomers who to put it bluntly - need to get out of the way so the younger generation can begin their careers.</p>
<p>Those Baby Boomers saw their retirements and housing values tank and need to work longer to have enough funds in retirement. A lot of them are living a lot longer too requiring rethinking on how much they need for retirement and when they can do it.</p>
<p>Underemployment is not: “I want to work in management and I’m stuck being the gopher even though I have a degree and don’t want to start entry level, so I’m angry.” </p>
<p>Underemployment is: I have a degree, research, and internship experience, I paid my own way through college and the unemployment rate in my area is so bad I’m stuck working as a part time server to survive. </p>
<p>I strongly encourage you to check out the book The Defining Decade by Megan Jay. It gives a great perspective on the issues young graduates face now.</p>
<p>I emphasized with my S the importance of “working the career center” at his college. And he listened. He started from day 1 and has had great summer internships for 3 years in a row (he is a junior - so the upcoming summer included). Be proactive - and don’t underestimate how much their school can help kids with both internships and full-time employment. And often the one leads to the other.</p>
<p>More of the right kind of immigration (i.e. highly skilled workers in high demand types of work) will create more jobs when they work or start companies here, as opposed to working or starting companies in other countries.</p>
<p>Better to import a worker than export a job.</p>
<p>Problems arise when cheaper H1B visa holders displace the American citizens & legal residents who are fully capable and trained in high technology areas. I agree that we need exceptional scientists and engineers who can innovate & start new businesses, but do the garden variety H1B tech workers any more innovative or entrepreneurial? </p>
<p>We have the capacity to meet the growing demand. Offshoring jobs and bringing in 65000 H1B workers/year are not helping the job situation for our young graduates.</p>
<p>Some college placement centers do an exceptional job in assisting their students with finding internships and job placements; at quite a few colleges, they are not so effective. Many students have to fend for themselves.</p>
<p>I know quite a significant amount of 2012 grads that are still pounding the pavement looking for ANY jobs. They are NOT unwilling to locate anywhere in the US, are not unwilling to take entry level pot scrubbing to get their feet in any door that will allow them in. If you have an unemployed/underemployed recent graduate you know it is this bad out there.
Don’t paint these kids as too high and mighty to take lower paying entry level jobs, they want to work.</p>
<p>I graduated last year (nontraditional student) and most of the other graduates I know have jobs–temp jobs. Man, it is no fun getting near the end of your contract, desperately scrabbling for the next job and praying it has some kind of benefits. Better than being unemployed, of course. But still very stressful.</p>
<p>When you look at the title of other threads that have showed up in this forum about the lack of critical thinking skills, how many are unprepared for the freshman year, lack of writing skills, lack of math skills, pursuit of useless majors, sense of entitlement, dependence on parents and reliance on hooks, we can see a pattern for why its so hard for young people to get jobs.</p>
<p>Young American college students are not perceived as ambitious, competitive, hard working or smart anymore. They lost before they began.</p>
<p>Combine that perception with a grain of truth and a horrible economy that just won’t recover and you have all the ingredients to create a stressed and depressed generation of young people.</p>
<p>Also, employers are no better - McDonald’s now hiring college grads instead of teenagers, all employers generally requiring much more highly skilled applicants for entry level jobs and more specific skills with certifications, experience and licenses for entry level jobs so its ridiculous looking for work now.</p>
<p>There is so much more to the sad situation young people find themselves in now but there is one situation I perceive and believe is real. There is a lack of creative thinking by everybody. Young people and employers both need to start thinking outside the box. They need to shake off the mental chains holding them back. What rule is there that a college grad must work in their field of study? Why do employers think getting someone certified is better than finding someone studious, hard working and honest? Ideally, you want both but you can make an honest person certified faster than you can make a certified person honest. Employers should be hoarding good people in their businesses as a treasured resource.</p>
<p>Students should get there degrees in video game design, lesbian studies or clean energy technology but go to the oil fields in North Dakota for real jobs after graduation.</p>
<p>I’m in my early 60’s and not only an I unwilling to “get out of the way” but I am trying to get back in the job market, without much luck. And there are mature adults graduating in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s who not only need to provide for themselves but for their families, and still unable to find work. The situation is tough for all kinds of people. Young people have time and energy on their side and the economy is improving, including housing and the stock market, which will ripple out and help in a reasonable amount of time, I believe.</p>