How Are This Year’s High School Grads Doing in the Job Market?

In the next few weeks millions of students will graduate from high schools and colleges to find pretty bleak job opportunities. 2011 may be a bit better than the last few years, but for every job opening there will be many graduates competing against each other.

Since 1992 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been collecting employment statistics by age, gender, educational level and race. April 2011 figures show a stark contrast between various groups.

The lucky

If you are an Asian female over 55 with at least a bachelor’s degree you are in the lowest group of unemployed. The April 2011 rate for this group was the lowest rate in each category (educational level, gender, ethnicity, age). People with each of these characteristics are more likely to be employed than any other.

Having at least a bachelor’s degree gives job seekers the best overall opportunity with the overall unemployment level at 4.5%.

Age seems to be the next best indicator of unemployment. Workers over 55 had an unemployment rate of 4.5% in April compared to the national average of 9.5%

After age race plays the biggest difference. The Asian-American unemployment rate in April was a low 6.5%. Whites were the next lowest at 8.0%

If you are a woman you are a solid 1% more likely to be employed then males. This is an interesting statistic because for all years up to 2009, both genders tracked very closely together. Beginning in 2009, there became a significant divergence in the rate of unemployed men compared to woman.

The not so lucky

In April 2011 there was a huge disparity between the groups with the lowest unemployment compared to the highest.

If you have less than a high school education, are a male African American between the ages of 25 and 34 you are in the most unlucky group with an unemployment rate close to 20%. That is over 11% more than the national average.

Other factors increasing risk of unemployment are:

A high school grad with no college – April unemployment was 9.7% or only slightly above the national unemployment average.

April unemployment for African Americans was 16.7, for Hispanics it was 11.8%, both significantly above the national average.

Interestingly the BLS doesn’t keep track of the age category of 16 to 23. According to CF Economics this group faces the worst changes in the job market. In late 2010 the unemployment rate among young workers was 20%. This group is also likely to earn the lowest wages.

Yesterday I heard the story of two 19 year olds who live together for economic survival. Both are 2010 high school graduates. Both are from middle class families but because of unfortunate circumstances don’t have their parental support. Each are working 30 hours a week at Wal-Mart (the most Wal-Mart will allow them to work so they don’t have to provide benefits), One is working a second job. Still they can’t afford to pay rent, have food and continue their educations. Both qualify for food stamps under Texas law. The female of the couple is in the process of trying to join the army as a way to get out of her circumstances. She has been accepted but because of the waiting list has another 3-4 months before starting boot camp.

It’s a tough time to be young.

Sam Thacker is a partner in Austin Texas based Business Finance Solutions.
His direct email address is sam@lesliethacker.com
Twitter: SMBFinance