Unemployment Rates Among Young College Graduates

Unemployment Rates Among Young College Graduates
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Unemployment Rates Among Young College Graduates
Introduction
The escalating rate of unemployment rates among young college graduate students is a source of concern. Getting a college degree is a heavy investment of time, money, and effort. However, despite this, many graduates continue struggling to get suitable employment opportunities despite them being qualified for better jobs. Policymakers are concerned that unemployment among college graduates needs immediate attention, otherwise, it will jeopardize future generations. The inability of college graduates to find employment means that the resources spent on them go to waste. Unemployment also communicates to the rest of the young generation that education is not the key to success. Addressing the issue of unemployment requires an examination of the causes of the problem.
Skills mismatch
One of the key problems facing and leading to increased unemployment rates among college students in the country is a mismatch of skills between their skills and the needs of the job market. As the economy and job market evolve, certain skills and industries may become more in demand while others become obsolete. For example, there has been a higher demand for technology, healthcare, and green energy skills in the economy. As technology continues to advance, there is an increasing demand for workers with skills in areas such as programming, data analysis, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (Qamar, Agrawal, Samad & Jabbour, 2021). Similarly, in healthcare, there has been a surge in professionalism and a well-skilled labor force to attend to the rapidly aging population. With the aging population, there is a growing need for workers in healthcare-related fields such as nursing, medical assisting, and healthcare administration. Thirdly, with the growing concern for the environment, there is a need for workers with skills in renewable energy, sustainable design, and environmental science. The labor market in these industries has been expanding in the last two decades. They have been absorbing more workers and the nature of the skill levels required necessitate a college degree. On the other hand, colleges continue to produce professionals and workers in other fields which are increasingly becoming obsolete. Some of these industries include print media, agriculture, and manufacturing. These industries have been core to the US economy in the 20th century but their relevance has reduced greatly. Many colleges continue to operate and run faculties continue to operate and graduate students in these areas. This can be due to various reasons such as tradition, lack of foresight, or the belief that the industry may rebound in the future. However, this can lead to a mismatch between the skills of graduates and the needs of the job market, resulting in higher unemployment rates and underemployment for graduates in these fields.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Employment rates of 25- to 34-year-olds, by educational attainment: 2010 through 2021, source: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=561
Underemployment
Underemployment arises when individuals work in jobs that do not fully utilize their education, skills, or experience. In some cases, it occurs when individuals work in jobs that do not meet the salary or hours expectation of the employee. The US labor market is rife with this and it disproportionately affects young college graduates for several reasons. Firstly, there is an increasing number of college graduates in the job market, which has led to more competition for entry-level jobs CITATION Nat231 \l 1033 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). Academic inflation in the country can be attributed to many factors such as an increase in colleges and universities, access to credit i.e. student loans, and ease of schooling because of advances in technology allowing for online ...