Graduation Blues

First_Job

A new Rutgers University survey (pdf) found that just half of those who graduated between 2006 and 2011 are working full time:

That's bad enough, but when you look at just those people who have graduated since 2009, it gets even worse. Fewer than half of them found a job within a year of graduating; whereas 73 percent of those who graduated between 2006 and 2008 found jobs in the first year. Kids who graduated after 2009 are three times more likely to not have a fulltime job than the kids who finished between 2006 and 2008. 

Those who are working aren't making much:

Employed, post-2009 graduates also have an average starting salary of $27,000, $3,000 less than the average starting salary for the classes of 2006 and 2007; experts estimate that given the fragile state of the post-2009 economy, these wages are likely to stay depressed for the next 10 or 15 years.

Nathaniel Beck compares job prospects across majors.