Post-Graduation Job Search Hindered by Weak Economy
By MICHAEL LUCINSKI | Mar. 4, 2002For the class of 2002, nails may be nubs by the time commencement rolls around.With graduation barely more than two months away, the annual job hunt has begun, but the nation's shrinking economy has rendered the process more difficult - and stressful - for this year's class than for many of their predecessors.Jobs are scarce, and the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds is now over 9 percent, four points higher than the national average.According to a study of 200 companies conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a Pennsylvania-based survey firm, businesses across the nation expect to hire 20 percent less college graduates this year compared to last.Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager for NACE, stressed that respondents were not averse to hiring fresh graduates as a policy, but are merely hiring fewer new employees this year than last."It's a rotten time right now," she said.Signs of an economic slowdown began to appear as far back as the fall of 2000.
