During your time at college, it is your responsibility to study hard, join a student organization or two, take on leadership roles, and gain real work experience through internships or temporary positions. You do all you can to build up your value, but as you are handed the hard-earned diploma with honors on it, you are in the hands of the current job market, for better or worse.
For my fellow 2012 graduates, keep your heads up because as we take a stroll back in history it is safe to say that the U.S. job market has been much worse. Onlinecolleges.net compiled a list of the 10 worst job markets U.S. graduates have faced:
Five of the most unforgiving job markets are outlined below:
1. 1933
Picture this – only about 4% of the U.S. population at this time were college graduates. I would imagine these individuals were the elite… and jobless. During this year, the unemployment crisis hit its peak leaving about one quarter of all Americans out of work.
2. 1982
Between the summer of 1981 and the end of 1982 the recession hit the U.S. ecoomy hard as nearly 3.7 million jobs were lost. Unemployment stayed over 10% for ten months.
3. 1983
At this point in time, the economy had yet to recover from the early ‘80’s recession. Of the recent college graduates, 3.9% of them were unemployed compared with the overall unemployment rate peaking at 10.4%.
4. 2010
The 2008 market crash was to blame for the tough times of the 2010 graduates. Not only was the job market withering, but the 2010 graduates had to compete with the unemployed 2009 graduates still looking for work. Unemployment rates shot up and salaries declined.
5. 2009
The class of 2009 was the first to face the 2008 market crash head on. By November of this year, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates to an unbelievable 16%. Ouch!
Check out the full list of the 10 worst job markets to graduate into in further detail.
The above unemployment rates are quite depressing and far from an enjoyable read. But, for the class of 2012 and future graduates to come, keep working hard and stay positive.
French writer, Marcel Pagnol, said it best, “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”
Are you a recent college graduate? Share with us your experience in the 2012 job market. We’d love to hear your stories.
