Career Advice for New Graduates in a Tough Market

The government-reported low unemployment rate paints a misleadingly upbeat picture. The job market looks far less rosy when you add two huge groups not counted in the “unemployment rate:” 

There’s the under-employed: People who wished they had a full-time professional-level job and are working part-time, for low-pay, on a job they could have done straight out of high school—Uber anyone? Then there are the millions who have given up looking for work. They, somehow, are not counted in the “unemployment rate.” The more accurate statistic is the underreported Labor Participation rate, which is within ½ of 1% of the lowest since early 1978. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/labor-force-participation-rate   A record 95 million Americans 18-64 are not in the labor force.

And with the U.S. having the highest percentage of college graduates in history, that degree is a mere hunting license for employment beyond a McJob.

The ideas I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today may help. They’re widely applicable, not aimed at stars.