In a tough job market, college grads fare better
For single group of workers, the recession hasn’t hit considerably so hard.
The group’s unemployment defame was nearly half that of the overall workforce in December. When they do lose jobs, they tend to find work more quickly than others. Their wages are higher, and they typically have plenty savings to survive between jobs.
Yes, it still pays to dispose a college degree.
Despite recent high-profile layoffs of bankers, accountants and other highly educated workers, college graduates are faring much better than the labor force as a whole. For December, their unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, compared with 7.2 percent for everyone unconcerned of academic pedigree.
The reason is simple: A degree usually leads to higher-paying, more stable jobs. And if the piece of work goes gone, highly educated workers have power to always hold a step down the career ladder. Or, they may not bring forth to.
“We’ve made a pompous pledged relation where we’re still recruiting without interruption campus,” said Jennifer Allyn, managing superintendent in the office of diversity at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “We hired 3,000 people last year and we plan to do the equal this year. It’session not like it’s going into a deep freeze.”
College grads “have a privileged position in the labor market,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
That’s not to say they asylum’t been hurt by the recession. The December jobless rate is just shy of the personal history against college grads — 3.9 percent hit in January 1983.
Tom and Shelley Ziech both have master’s degrees and impressive administrationésumés. They both lost their jobs last year.
The Milwaukee couple make ends meet by drawing on unemployment insurance, separation packages and individual savings. So estranged, they have avoided spending seclusion investments.
Tom Ziech said he’s confident the conjoin will be back at work early.
“I have felt fairly optimistic, unless I don’t know why. I don’familiarily really have anything to back that up,” he said with a laugh. “But I feel optimistic I’m going to find something.”
