College graduates face tough job market

With college seniors across the nation getting ready to graduate, many will be entering a competitive job market, but competition isn't the only challenge they will need to overcome.\nFor the past two years, the economy has been recovering from a recession. Despite the recovery, however, the nation lost more than 1 million jobs last year. Nine million Americans are out of work, and about 1.25 million -- or 14.6 percent -- of the unemployed are college educated, according to the Economic Policy Institute Web site. \nPresident Bush, however, says this year looks bright. \n"We are moving in the right direction but have more to do," Bush said, in an Associated Press article. "I will not be satisfied until every American who wants a job can find one."\nStephanie Wambach, a senior majoring in business, is not so optimistic. \n"I have held internships, I have good grades but that does not guarantee any sort of security for after I graduate," she said. "It is a scary place out there." \nThere will be 2.6 million new jobs in 2004, but there are more jobseekers with college degrees than there are openings for college-level jobs, according to the EPI Web site. \nApproximately 1.37 million college-educated workers will enter the labor force this year, but there are only about 1.28 million college-level jobs available, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site. College level jobs include executive, administrative and managerial positions. \nThe remaining 90,000 bachelor degree holders -- 18 percent of the total number of graduates entering the labor force -- will hold jobs that do not require the skills they learned in college. \nSeniors are not the only ones who are worried about the job market. \nMarc Zaslavsky, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice and philosophy, said he plans to attend graduate school because it will improve his chances of finding a job.\n"I would be a little nervous about graduating. The competition in our world today is stronger than ever, and without a graduate degree, I feel that finding a good job might be difficult," he said. "An undergraduate degree does not mean as much as it used to. College is becoming the norm."\nAdam Jacobs, a junior majoring in telecommunications with a business minor, said he will also opt to go to graduate school.\n"I want to attend graduate school so I am more qualified than the competition and will have a better starting salary"\nMark Mittelhauser, author of "The Outlook for College Graduates, 1996-2006. Prepare Yourself," said these college graduates "will most likely work as sales representatives, first line supervisors, clerks, secretaries, service workers, farm managers, and as various production and blue-collar workers." \nOffshore outsourcing or job displacement to low-cost countries is another trend that will affect graduating students' chances of getting jobs. Hundreds of thousands of Information Technology jobs are moving overseas, especially to India. It is estimated that by 2005, almost 600,000 IT jobs for American-based companies will be performed overseas. \nDick McGarvey, director of career services for the Informatics department, believes offshore outsourcing is a minor problem for IT students. \n"(The) consensus forecast for IT work in the next ten years is very rosy, with well over a million new jobs needing to be filled," he said. "The numbers of students pursuing degrees in this field is far less than what is necessary to fill them." \nThe BLS is forecasting 150,000 new IT jobs each year with only 60,000 students getting an IT degree. \nMcGarvey also agrees much of the IT work being shipped overseas does not involve work that requires knowledge of both IT and the customers products or service. \n"A major emphasis of IT education should also include a requirement in another subject area so these students are able to "compete for jobs that we expect to stay at home," he said. \n"What is being separated out and sent to less costly workers overseas is some of the 'backroom programming' where on-site interaction with customers is not required." \nEconomists believe offshore outsourcing will benefit the U.S. \n"While outsourcing may be bad for the older generations of workers in America, it will benefit the newly-working generation by providing jobs for those who are willing to relocate," said Anant Mandelia, a senior from New Delhi, India. \nN. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said that just as U.S. consumers have enjoyed lower prices from foreign manufacturers, they will also benefit from services being offered by overseas companies that have lower labor costs, according to the USA Today Web site. \nFederal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan proposed in response that workers hurt by outsourcing "can be confident that new jobs will displace old ones as they always have," according to the CNN Web site.\nHaley Marcus, an IU senior majoring in Spanish, is pessimistic about her chances of getting a job. \n"I don't know what I am going to do," she said. "Maybe I will just get a job abroad, too" \n-- Contact staff writer Stephanie Frasco at sfrasco@indiana.edu.