The roughly 19.6 million undergraduates returning to campus this school year face bad news about bleak job prospects after graduation. Many will leave college indebted and ambitious, only to discover that the entry-level rung of the career ladder is no longer what it once was. They will end up in a job that doesn’t require their degree or be unemployed.
A recent article in The Atlantic titled “The Job Market Is Frozen” by staff writer Roge Karma tells the story of his younger brother who graduated with honors from a top U.S. private university. Over a six month period, his brother completed 576 job applications, received 29 responses, and had four interviews, none of which led to a job. Roge is an economist, so he was motivated to examine the situation in more depth.
He concludes that “Unemployment is low, but workers aren’t quitting and businesses aren’t hiring. What’s going on? Call it the Big Freeze. A job market with few hiring opportunities is especially punishing for young people entering the workforce or trying to advance up the career ladder, including those with a college degree.””
Many college students sense this.
