It's a great time to be a college graduate in America
At this time last year, we wrote that it was a great time to be a college graduate in America. That remains true.
Perhaps even more so.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell began his press conference that followed the Fed’s latest policy decision by outlining what he called a plain English summary of how the economy is performing, what the Fed had done at its latest meeting, and what monetary policy tries to accomplish.
“The main takeaway is that the economy is doing very well,” Powell said. “Most people who want to find jobs are finding them, and unemployment and inflation are low.”
As of May, the unemployment rate was sitting at 48-year low of 3.755% (or an 18-year low of 3.8% if you round up the decimal). And the data which we pointed to last year as indicating it being a great time for new entrants to find employment has only improved.
In May, the number of unemployed workers who were new entrants to the workforce (either new graduates who began looking for work or people who had previously been out of the workforce but are now looking for work) totaled 571,000, the lowest since May 2007.
The number of people going from out of the workforce to unemployed is also at the lowest since May 2001. This indicates that those who enter or re-enter the workforce are quickly finding jobs and spending less time officially unemployed.
Given that research has shown graduating into a recession (read: a stagnant labor market) has a negative impact on earnings in their first ten years of work — when workers experience about 70% of their career wage growth — this year’s graduates are getting an advantageous start to their careers.
Great news for those graduates.
NOTE: A version of this story was published on June 17.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
