High school grads face grim job prospects

(MoneyWatch) Although recent college graduates are struggling to find work in a labor market battered by the Great Recession, job prospects are even worse for another group: high school graduates.

Only 3 in 10 high school graduates from the classes of 2006 through 2011 have found full-time employment, according to a new Rutgers University report. The numbers are particularly dire for students who graduated after the financial crisis erupted in 2008, with only 16 percent who graduated during the recession employed full-time. By comparison, roughly half of college graduates over the past five years do not have full time jobs.

Overall, nearly half of high school graduates during that period are looking for full-time work, including 30 percent who are jobless and 15 percent who have part-time positions. Fully 1 in 6 of these graduates have quit looking for work altogether. Some 7 in 10 high school graduates ages 18 to 24, or more than 20 million people, lack a college degree, reflecting the huge challenge for the U.S. economy in producing enough jobs to absorb these workers into the labor market.

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Such statistics also underline the scale of the task for U.S. policymakers trying to boost job-creation. American businesses added only 69,000 jobs in May, less than half what economists had expected. For the first time since June, the unemployment rate ticked up, to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent.

The current median wage for employed high school graduates working full time is $9.50, $2 above the federal minimum wage. That means those working full time earn barely enough to keep them out of poverty. By comparison, college graduates make an average hourly wage of $16.81 per hour, which amounts to an annual salary of roughly $35,000, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think-tank.

"There is tremendous pessimism among high school graduates about what the future holds for them," write the authors of the Rutgers study. "The number expecting their generation to do less well financially than the one before them outnumbers those who expect to do better by a margin of four to one. Most believe they are less prepared than the previous generation to enter the workforce."

In a sign of that pessimism, 90 percent of recent high school graduates surveyed by Rutgers said that high school did not prepare them "extremely well" for employment. Respondents in this group stated that if they could attend high school again, they would have taken different courses to better prepare them for a specific skill trade.

Other findings from the study:

In his January State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that college "is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford." Yet, due to the steep cost of higher education, only 38 percent of high school graduates said that they definitely planned to attend college in the next few years.

[werntrouble]

The global economy needs well-trained and educated workers. I'm sorry to report that having a high school diploma does not make you competitive in that global workplace. Many other nations are graduating extremely talented, educated and trained workers. The USA must do same or it will be replaced as an economic superpower. We all know this.. This was not the situation 50 years ago, but is dramatically so now. So, don't despair, get more education and, when you get your first real job, make yourself indispensable. Good luck, 2012 Graduates. You will find a way to succeed and prosper.

[hypnotoad72]

And they get a helping hand from our government and corporations.

Which isn't exactly "free market principles" in any way shape or form, but whatever...

What doesn't help is twofold:

1. fewer opportunities, meaning those observing may not be bothered to learn

2. Let's ask these free market fellas about how small government works:


http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rick_Santorum.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/mitch_mcconnell.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/john_mccain.htm#Corporations
http://www.issues2000.org/senate/Judd_Gregg.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/jim_demint.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Orrin_Hatch.htm#Corporations
amongst others...

"Voted NO on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore. (Mar 2005)"

Yeah, there are some Democrats who voted 'no' on that, but most around here think the Dems are 100% responsible for everything and that level of partisanship will not be tolerated. Incidentally, Obama voted YES to repeal the anti-free market and anti-taxpayer measure, so why people around here loathe him...

[hypnotoad72]

Also, the system has lost scope.

With wages declining or stagnating at best, with college costs skyrocketing, I hope you have no problems with people accruing 6-digit figures of student debt to remain "competitive".

And given how many technologies are about consolidating or automating, "indispensable" is another word that comes out of a fairy tale. It's hard to devalue work from a living wage down to a slave wage, and then wonder why nobody wants to work... maybe corporations, the free market ones where they demand money from the government all the time, should invest in whips? What say you?

[infantryman1968]

High school grads face grim job prospects


LOL!


Yes We Can!

[hypnotoad72]

Obama cannot do it alone, unless he puts down executive orders overriding CONgress.

Oh look, yes he can:

http://www.infowars.com/pdd-51-new-executive-order-give-obama-dictator-power/

(Don't thank him - these little things go back to Bush's NSPD51/HSPD20, and right back down to Reagan's REX84... it's just how they will be used, or if, that makes the contextual difference.)

[hypnotoad72]

Or college grads ages 22-60 or whatever because entry level jobs no longer exists, companies won't train, and even if one has a degree companies want years of experience.

The American working class is in a real bind, and nobody - nobody - has gone into sufficient details, despite one politician actually saying some of the issues upfront.

[addict42]

This is grim for the youth of today. Hopefully there will be some sort of new innovation that can help propel the economy thus enabling at least 7 out of 10 to be employed.

[hypnotoad72]

Most technology is used to consolidate and eliminate jobs in the first place. On top of companies exploiting foreign and illegal workers to help stamp down wages and opportunities for people HERE.

Comments like "innovation will add jobs" don't help, either, and the solutions that could be done won't be because then somebody else other than the bottom 99% would have to take a hit.

[IamProphet1]

I am very interested in the trials that high school graduates are going to have to suffer through regarding higher education. Prospects for young students are daunting. This non-performing economy is not match for what the future will hold for college bound students. This article is clear,perspective, and interesting. Thank you, MoneyWatch.

[hypnotoad72]

And to think the economy was far better off in 1992...