College Grads to Add to Unemployment Woes; A Masters Probably Won't Help

I am unclear how the BLS accounts for college grads in its employment numbers - generally you cannot file for unemployment unless you lost a job, so with many of the freshly minted early 20 set coming straight out of school they might just head straight to the dark pool known as "suffering but not counted in any government statistic". Aside from this group, high schoolers looking for summer jobs seem to now be competing with adults desperate for work.  But other than that I see green shoots everywhere.

Reuters reports some 1.6M new grads; of course some proportion of those will find jobs and some proportion will go onto grad school.  So let's call it perhaps a cool 750,000 to 1 million newly unemployed? Welcome to the Green Shoot Rebound kids.  Come on in, the water's great!  About that debt? Well the new national ethos is it's not your fault, so just unload it to the Federal Reserve balance sheet - everyone's doing it.

• A college diploma has long been the ticket to a good job, but the deepest economic slump in decades has dampened the dreams of many U.S. college seniors. They face a hard reality upon graduation this spring: stiff competition from the growing ranks of the unemployed, from those forced out of retirement or delaying it because of the collapsing stock market, and from graduates of past years who are still searching for jobs in their chosen field.
• The U.S. Census Bureau says 1.6 million college degrees will be awarded this year, a figure that has climbed steadily. Many depart school with expectations of making it on their own and with hopes of repaying student loans that average $22,500.
• Many seniors like Haimes face the added worry of losing health insurance coverage for the first time in their lives. Some 20 U.S. states have passed laws mandating that adult children can get coverage under their parents' health insurance plans until they reach their mid-20s, but usually must remain unmarried dependents.
• Some see few options other than living at home.
• ... there is desperation in the air, based on anecdotal comments from counselors, students and recruiters.
• Many seniors plan to go straight to graduate school, master degree programs, to get a leg up while waiting for the recession to end, in some cases creating a glut of applicants, counselors and students said.