College graduates are finding it harder to break into the job market this year, reports Elisabeth Buchwald for CNN. The overall unemployment rate remains low, at less than 4 percent. But more than 12 percent of four-year graduates aged 20 to 29 years old are out of work, a big jump from last year.
Employers are hiring non-graduates for lower-level jobs, writes Peter McCoy in the New York Times. They're hiring experienced workers. But new entrants to the workforce are struggling to "launch."
Underemployment has long-term costs, writes Elizabeth Hernandez in the Denver Post. Only about half of four-year graduates get a professional job within a year of graduation, reports the Burning Glass Institute. The other half "work in jobs that don’t require a degree or make use of their collegiate-level skills."
A recent college graduate with a college-level job earns about 88 percent more than someone with only a high school diploma. An underemployed college graduate averages 25 percent more.
It's hard to catch up. "Seventy-three percent of graduates who enter the workforce underemployed remain so a decade after completing college."