LOS ANGELES, March 11 (UPI) -- U.S. college graduates are finding their degrees are not helping them find jobs, the Los Angeles Times said in a report Friday.
Long-term unemployment, defined as joblessness for six months or more, is at record rates, and a large portion of the chronically out-of-work are college graduates, the Times said.
Even with better-than-expected job growth, 373,000 people with college degrees quit job hunting and dropped out of the labor force last month, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The number of long-term unemployed who are college graduates has nearly tripled since the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000, the Times said.
Experts blame the situation on dramatic shifts in the economy where industries are transforming at a rapid pace as they adjust to intense competition, technological change and other pressures.
That means skilled jobs can quickly become obsolete while others are outsourced, the Times said. Educated workers are increasingly subject to the job insecurities and disruptions that usually plague blue-collar laborers.
The report said while a college education is still the best asset, it's no guaranteed a worker's skills will match demands of a shifting job market.
