Despite the recent slew of moderately hopeful articles about tiny increases in consumer spending, in company profits, in public confidence in the job market, things are still very bleak. Associated Press stories report a 0.01 percent rise in consumer spending and other infinitesimally small changes.
This is not a good sign for graduates and those looking to get full-time work in the next few years.
Jamaar Williams was featured in an Arizona Republic article as an example of what thousands of 20-somethings are experiencing.
Williams graduated from ASU and went to law school immediately after, racking up $160,000 in debt. Now, he can't find a full-time job. This is not a new phenomenon.
The economy has not recovered; it is growing at a tepid pace, and that is not a good sign for those about to graduate.
This is not news. I don't think anyone will be shocked to learn that the economy sucks, the job market is still terrible or that no one really knows how to fix it.
But it is a disappointing reminder of how miserably we've failed to save ourselves from ourselves. Consumer spending is up fractionally, but not enough to stimulate real growth. Even Black Friday profits are not what they used to be, despite reports of violence and pepper spraying from Friday's shopping bonanza.
I am going to go ahead and say that yes, it's great this economy is not getting any worse, but it sure isn't getting any better either, and that's not good news for people like me, Williams, or the thousands of other graduates and young professionals looking for full-time employment.
According to Curran Career Consulting, this year, despite the small gains being made in the economy, post-college graduates have an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. This is a rate not seen for decades.
I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but things look bleak. For those graduating with a bachelor's degree, between the ages of 20 and 24, there was a 17 percent increase in unemployment, and that's just between January of 2010 and 2011.
I currently deliver pizzas for a living, and I've been doing that for almost a year because I can't find a “real” job, and I've been looking.
The theories about why the unemployment rate is so dismal range from too many taxes to not enough government.
The majority of the blame lies at the feet of the people in Congress. The endless bickering, pointless bills and the general stupidity has come to characterize our legislative branch as the root of all of this economic evil. Maybe if we could convince the people in power to pull their heads out of their respective behinds, I wouldn't be panicking about graduating into a job market that is almost totally devoid of career employment.
I don't want to deliver pizzas forever, and at the moment, it's looking that way.
Reach the columnist at oonagh.mcquarrie@asu.edu
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