"Students who are graduating have not encountered a job market like this in recent memory," said Benjamin Passty, director of the University of Cincinnati Applied Economics Research Institute.
The unemployment rate currently stands at 8.1 percent nationwide, a 3.2 percent increase since the start of 2008. Roughly 12.5 million people are currently out of a job and 2.5 million more since the 2008 holiday season. These most recent numbers most resemble the economic downturn during the early 1980s. in 1982 the national unemployment rate ballooned from 8.6 to 10.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is interesting to note that in 1983, however, the unemployment rate rebounded from 10.4 percent to 8.3 percent over a 12-month period.
Rabid unemployment is hitting metropolitan areas throughout the country hard. Unemployment rates were higher in December 2008 than a year earlier in 363 of 369 metropolitan areas and lower in just five areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporter on Feb. 4.
More specifically, the Cincinnati-Middletown region reporter 8.2 percent unemployment rate, slightly higher than the 8.1 percent national rate. Within Ohio, Toledo posted the highest rate at in 2008 at 9.8 percent. Dayton registered the lowest at 6.2 percent.
The prospects for a turnaround, however, are murky as it's too volatile to forecast the global financial crisis.
"The common wisdom is that the stock market as about six months ahead of the economy; it's still very unstable."
There are a couple rays of light peeking through the dim employment environment for students. Graduating students and college-educated people do have a slight edge in the current market. Unemployment rates for the aformentioned are between 1 and 3 percent, according to Passty.
That is simply to hard to believe.
The Univesity of Cincinnati Career Development Center (CDC) - an organization geared to guide students through the labyrinth that is the job market - urges students to remain focused, understand that they are not only competing for jobs with their peers but also with workers that have previous experience in the industries they wish to get into, according to CDC Director Linda Parker.
"Students have to be flexible. Students have to think about what they want to do," said James Novak, assistant director at the CDC. "They need to think about what industry they want to go in and where they're willing to go."
There is, however, a sense of optimism throughout CDC for the future of the job market and services available at the CDC.
"For seniors and juniors that have not tapped into the CDC they are simply wasting dollars they have invested in quality education, they're just giving it away," Parker said. "If they're waiting for graduation, the majority of our employers are here fall quarter."
Both Passty and Parker urged all students to take a global perspective when searching for a job. It's imperative for students to understand that in today's global economy, there are job opportunities all over the world, according to Passty and Parker. Employers will always have interest in those that are driven, skilled and willing to contribute to their organization, Parker said.
"Students need to know they will be competing internationally," Passty said. " Now we're seeing international graduate degrees competing with American graduate degrees."
The industries of health care, technology, and energy have shown the most resiliency during this economic meltdown. The bedrock need for nurses, therapists and physical trainers are what make health care so resilient in addition to the physicians.
