Tight job market for college grads

DETROIT, June 4 (UPI) -- U.S. college graduates from 2011 have almost half of the graduates from 2010 to compete with in the job market, a survey said.

The study done at Rutgers University found 90 percent of graduates from 2006 through 2007 had begun their working careers, but only 56 percent from the class of 2010 had found a job, The Detroit News reported Saturday.

A study done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers made public this week said employers were expecting to hire 19.3 percent more college graduates in 2010-11 compared with 2009-10.

That is the first increase in hiring expectations among employers since 2007, the study said.

The job market is spotty. "If someone graduates looking to be in the healthcare field or the service technology field, they're not going to have a problem finding a job," said Cindy Pasky, chief executive officer of Strategic Staffing Services of Detroit.

"The overall message is that it's getting better, but it still has a way to go," Pasky said.

For anxious graduates, a study done by the University of Minnesota suggests the best way to get ahead of the pack is to start job searches nine months before graduation.

The success rate among graduates who began that early was 57 percent, the survey found, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

The U.S. unemployment rate for workers in their 20s is 14.7 percent as of May. The Minnesota study found in total just 25 percent of graduates in the state had jobs lined up by commencement.