By Kevin McGaw/reporter
As a large number of college seniors get ready to enter the job market in the near future, the government has good news.
In May, it was reported that 274,000 new jobs have been created as of April 2005, Ray Suarez said during a May episode of the Online News Hour, “Job Forecast for College Graduates,” on pbs.com.
“ This comes as good news since nearly 1.3 million college students prepare to earn their bachelor’s degrees,” he said.
The Department of Education reports these statistics are favorable to current graduates.
“ This has been uplifting for most students, due to the fact that from 2000 to 2004, there has been a decrease in the available jobs for college graduates,” according to the department.
During the Online News Hour, Marilyn Mackes, executive director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, indicated the decrease in jobs has required a large number of college graduates to take low-paying service jobs and others not traditionally associated with a college education.
In 2005 alone, the number of available jobs increased by 13 percent, Mackes said. At this same time the previous year, the United States saw only an 11 percent increase. The same period comparison shows an increase in salaries from 7 percent in 2004 to 10 percent in 2005.
Current and former TCC students can use the career and employment center on any campus for help with the job-search process, Monica Bettle, the coordinator of the South Campus career center, said.
“ Tarrant County College offers a variety of opportunities to help students find jobs,” she said.
Campus career and employment centers offer job listings, interviews, on-campus and metroplex employment opportunities, career fairs and job hotlines as well as internships in selective fields.
Valerie Chambers, a TCC student, is one of those students to use the facilities.
“ Tarrant County College’s career centers offered a large amount of information and job possibilities that helped me narrow down the field of work I would like to enter,” she said.
Suarez’s other guest on Online News Hour was Anya Kamenetz, a writer for The Village Voice.
Students may not be seeing on the streets what they have heard in the classroom, Kamenetz said. According to the Department of Education, a large number of new jobs are in contingent labor, also known as temporary and short-term, part-time jobs without benefits, Kamenetz said.
“ Opportunities such as these can leave feelings of uncertainty about their future,” she said.
Bettle said students can do something to ensure their success in the current job market.
“ By starting out in an internship, students can gain an understanding of what it takes to succeed in a corporate job,” she said.
According to a recent survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal, jobs are becoming increasingly competitive as more and more companies try to bring in new blood.
“ Although the job market is becoming more fiercely competitive, salaries and benefits are both improving dramatically as well,” Kamenetz said.
Josh Riney of Arlington, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, found the job search a bit frustrating.
“ I had to apply for so many jobs before I found one that fit me. This is the compelling part of the graduate process,” he said. “Most employers I interviewed with told me I lacked the experience to acquire the job.”
According to Outcomes for College Graduates, produced by the Department of Education, the changing relative value of a bachelor’s degree is a central feature of the large and rapidly expanding network of inequality between the value of a bachelor’s degree 20 years ago and a bachelor’s degree now.
“ Hopefully this current trend in recent months will reverse the stories we’ve heard about graduating students who are moving back home with mom and dad because they can’t find a job to support themselves,” Mackes said.
