Job Market an Extra Hard Test for New College Graduates

10 June 2010

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

June means one more big test for many students finishing college -- a test of the job market. Wish them luck. Americans age twenty to twenty-four faced an unemployment rate in May of fourteen and seven-tenths percent. That was five percentage points higher than the national rate.

This week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said his "best guess" is for a continued economic recovery. But the central bank chief expects unemployment to remain high for some time because of slow job creation. So where does that leave this year's graduates?

APCorey Fry. a graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, nursing school, tries on his cap and gown at his apartment Tuesday. He says he will have to move to another part of the country to find a job.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers says about one-fourth of those who applied for a job have found one. NACE says that is up a little from last year. But the number is down sharply from two thousand seven, the year before the financial crash. Starting pay is also down.

Josh Safran graduated from American University in Washington with a business degree. He is still looking for a job.

JOSH SAFRAN: "Once you get noticed by a company, it gets a lot easier, but it’s so hard to get noticed because there’s so many people looking for so few jobs."