Graduating US college seniors entering grim market

A college diploma has long been the ticket to a good job, but the deepest economic slump in decades has dampened the dreams of many US college seniors.

They face a hard reality upon graduation this spring: Stiff competition from the growing ranks of the unemployed, from those forced out of retirement or delaying it because of the collapsing stock market, and from graduates of past years who are still searching for jobs in their chosen field.

"You're graduating into this world and being thrown out of the college bubble and you're supposed to be able to get a job, which just doesn't exist," said Andrew Heber, 24, of Chicago, who graduated from New College in Florida in 2007.

The US Census Bureau says 1.6 million college degrees will be awarded this year, a figure that has climbed steadily. Many depart school with expectations of making it on their own and with hopes of repaying student loans that average €17,000.

For seniors like Amanda Haimes at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, the drumbeat of bad news about the weak job market is worrying, even scary.

"People are saying this is the worst year to graduate, ever," she said.

Ms Haimes, 22, plans to move back home with her parents in Atlanta and will make €2,200 this summer as a political party canvasser. "After that, I'm not 100 per cent positive" of her future, the sociology major said. Many seniors like Ms Haimes face the added worry of losing health insurance coverage for the first time in their lives. Some 20 US states have passed laws mandating that adult children can get coverage under their parents' health insurance plans until they reach their mid-20s, but usually must remain unmarried dependents.

What needs to happen - and will, according to college job counsellors - is for students to migrate from training in sectors that are losing jobs like finance to fields gaining jobs like health care, education, engineering, and computer technology.

Still, there is desperation in the air, based on anecdotal comments from counsellors, students and recruiters.

Rumblings that US colleges and universities pump out too many graduates who are ill-equipped for the available jobs echoes sentiments expressed in Britain and China, according to University of Wisconsin, Madison, career services director Leslie Kohlberg.

Mr Obama frequently urges access to college be expanded. US government data shows jobs secured by college graduates on average pay almost double, or €15,000 more a year more, than those held by high school graduates; and college graduates' jobless rate at 4.3 per cent is about half the national rate.

The huge American baby boom generation will be retiring in coming years - if they can afford to - and the generation emerging from college is only one-third the size so competition for their services promises to be fierce, she said.