Important Takeaways:

• Report finds 52% of recent college grads working in fast food, retail and other ‘underemployed’ jobs
• Americans have long viewed a four-year college degree as essential to financial success, but a report finds that most graduates can’t find a job requiring a degree within a year of commencement.
• The nonprofit Strada Institute for the Future of Work and the Burning Glass Institute reported this month that 52% of graduates were “underemployed” in food service, hospitality, retail sales, office administration and other fields a year after earning a bachelor’s degree. The study analyzed federal statistics, job postings and online resumes of more than 60 million U.S. workers.
• Ten years after graduation, 45% still didn’t hold a job requiring college-level skills. By contrast, 79% of graduates who started their careers with college-level jobs still had such work five years later.
• Liberal arts and humanities majors struggled the most, but the report found that biology, physics, psychology and communications majors also failed to secure related positions.
• The Indianapolis-based Strada Education Foundation said the findings “show that a college degree is not always a guarantee of labor market success.”
• Several economists, workforce analysts and higher education leaders interviewed by The Washington Times agreed. They said the numbers underline a growing disconnect between what colleges teach and what employers need in a tight labor market.

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