Young Job Seekers Hit Hard by Economy

(CBS)  The campus coffee shop has allowed Elise Manbert to help work her way through college at UCLA.

The only problem? She graduated five months ago.

"Both my parents had jobs when they left college and so I kind of always expected that was going to be the same situation for me," Manbert said.

What she didn't plan on was hitting one of the worst job markets for college graduates in a generation. Now, even as the economy begins to recover, job creation is lagging, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

"A couple of my friends have unpaid internships, a couple are working at just part-time, a lot of them are in coffee shops," Manbert said.

Two years ago, the unemployment rate for 20 to 24 year olds with bachelor's degrees was just 2.2 percent. Now it is more than four times that at 9.3 percent.

Kathy Sims heads UCLA's Career Center and says this is the worst job market she has seen in her 32-year career. Next year could be worse.

"The class of 2010 will not just be competing with itself," Sims said. "It'll be competing with some of the class of 2008 and many of the class of 2009."

Compounding the problem is the huge amount of debt students have after they graduate. The average undergraduate credit card balance is $3,000 dollars, and the 60 percent of college graduates who borrowed money to get through school each owe an average of $23,000.

Kyle Voigt graduated a year ago hoping to get a job in advertising. He moved back in with his dad and has yet to find a job. Starting in November, he'll have to start paying back about $20,000 worth of student loans.

Voigt is considering joining the Navy. Meanwhile, Peace Corps, Americorps, and Teach for America received record numbers of applications.

Elise Manbert is still optimistic.

"I just feel like my personal luck has to improve," she said.

And that she can finally graduate to a full-time job.

[BigESShi]

It is so so extremly hard to get jobs and even just to land an interview is like pulling teeth. Even for people with experience like me that is college educated, graduate school educated has around 5 yrs of experience and still after about a year from being laid off can't find much of anything. At least though I do have so kind of income and I think people have to feel very lucky to even find a simple part time job like a coffee shop job, Mcdonalds but yet even thoughs are hard to get because so many people are looking to take whatever they can for the time being. Right now I think the economy is so hard that it really doesn't matter what you're degree is you come out with in college except fot the healthcare people will be looking for a position for at least a year or more to find a position or even just to get an interview.

[JollyRoger919]

I am 24 years old and I just graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology. I was hoping after I graduated that I would get a job with a government agency fighting crime. Instead I find myself living at home with my dad, sleeping in the same bedroom as I did when I was a kid, and working at a truck rental lot 30 hours a week making less than $10 an hour. I have worked at this job part time just to make a few bucks while in school but I was hoping to be out of it by the time I graduated. I have considered the police as a possible job but all local police departments around Phoenix are currently on a hiring freeze (no surprise). I have sent my resume to the FBI, the ATF, and the Department of Justice Anti Trust Division and have yet to hear back from any of them. I even tried looking for jobs outside of my desired field. At an ASU career fair I talked to a recruiter for a company that sells technology products to small businesses. She liked my resume and said I would make a great candidate. Even though it wasn't the kind of job I was looking for I went ahead with the application process, got interviewed, and never heard back from them. Now I am considering the military as an option so I made an appointment with an Air Force recruiter this week. It used to be that as long as you had a college degree, you could enter any career field you wanted to as long as it was the right major. Now its just not simple anymore. A friend of mine is 25 and he lost his job over a year ago and has been unemployed since. He too was forced to move back in with his parents.

[lomtevas]

Nonsense. The American economy shifted from W-2 employment with full benefits under the two Bushes and Clinton to a self employed structure. Sonny Bush said he encouraged "small business" (i.e. self employment) and "home ownership" (the housing bubble). So, the new graduate has to open up a kosher pizzeria in order to survive; not look for "positions" in the wanted ads.

[sjc_1]

The problem is who will buy at the pizza shop when there is no value added business. Lots of strip malls, but few factories. When you turn iron ore into cars and sand into computer chips you have value added. When you make pizza you are only serving those that add value.

[spaceatoms]

Its just about time a story like this appeared out of the bailouts, but the bottom line is that you had to have money to make an opportuinity out of the bailouts, thus the kids didn't get a chance like Bill Gates in the 70's. As a person almost 50, I have to hand it over to the kids as I can't function intellectually as well as my 20's and 30's. Even Einstein had all his great ideas as a youth. In the end the selfish boomers will bring this country to a halt with their greed as losing companies and still losing like AIG are investments havens instead of capitalistic companies.

[michaellevine]

Good article.
These days, job seekers need all the help they can get to rise above the crowd and get noticed first by prospective employers.
Toward this end, I thought I?d share with you a new, free tool I?ve created and launched to help job seekers: www.preverify.com
PreVerify is a free tool with which job seekers can conduct their own accurate and professional employment verifications. Following the quick and simple registration process, simply send your PreVerify request to your former and current employers to complete online at a time that is convenient for them to do so. No more interruptive phone calls, just an employment verification that can be used over and over again, forever.
Rather than crowd this email with a bunch of words, attached are two recent articles that talk about PreVerify:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2645354.htm
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/preverify-com-preverifying-employment-histories
Please feel free to View My PreVerify Profile: http://www.preverify.com/profile/michael-levine/1

[curse914]

Take note that college grads do not count on toward the total unemployed since they were never on the roles to begin with. Just more Reagan years monkeying with the unemployment numbers.

[BeckieBest]

For those of you who are still waiting for the "trickle" in Bush/GOP trickle down economics to reach you, keep waiting.

The rest of us know urine when we smell it.

Huge tax cuts to the rich that created record deficits as far as the eye can see and total deregulation of Wall Street that allowed them to wreck the economy is what got us here.

[Orlandojon]

All age groups have been slammed by the Obama economy. No need to focus on any particular age group.

[curse914]

A comment like this should be followed up with a "solution" or idea, otherwise we can all write you off as partisan hack.

[tincupman]

Hi Bud, where have you been? your internet service job has just been offshored to India, the last time I checked.

[kontz]

THE LEGAL TERM IS FRAUD. THIS SOCIETY HAS TAKEN YEARS FROM YOUR LIFE, CAUSED YOU TO BECOME INDEBTED WITH STUDENT LOANS AND NOW SAYS, "SORRY WE HAVE NO JOBS FOR YOU." YES, YOUNG PEOPLE YOU HAVE BEEN DEFRAUDED!!

[wyodutch]

What do you expect when America's manufacturing base has been relocated to Mexico and red china?
.
You think we'll all have jobs providing internet service and selling burgers to each other?