The job market for college grads is extremely competitive, so much so that many graduates do not get a job in their field. Gail MarksJarvis’ article in the Chicago Tribune goes into detail about what can be expected for recent and future college graduates.  According to research by the Pew Research Center, a third of Americans between 25 and 29 have college degrees and the hope of a better future is pulling in students from every demographic. “College completion is now at record levels for men and women, blacks, whites and Hispanics and foreign-born and native-born Americans,” Pew researchers Richard Fry and Kim Parker said in a recent study.

This increase in people obtaining a higher education would be extremely beneficial to society as a whole, but it is causing many students to move back into their parents’ house with their degree in hand and begin hunting for a job that requires absolutely no education.  In fact, according to MarksJarvis’ article, “Government data suggest that about half of the students who have finished college lately are either unemployed or underemployed — working in restaurants, stores or other jobs that don’t use their education. With more than $26,600 in student loans held on average by those who borrowed for college, a low-level job after college is a harsh reality.”

So why are these bright, college graduates not getting jobs related to their field? A large reason is due to the competition of other college graduates, but perhaps an even bigger factor is the economy itself. Gone are the days when a kid can get a great job straight out of high school or college, which says nothing of the student’s ability.  Despite the fact that the economy is in shambles, the push for college education has increased drastically. “In 1978, Pew found Americans were widely divided over whether a college education was necessary to get ahead in life. Yet, in 2009, 73 percent of American adults said college was a necessity. A Gallup Poll in 2010 found similar results — 75 percent thought college was necessary.”

While society believes college is necessary, the harsh reality shows that a college degree is not the golden ticket to success as it once was.  A college degree may be beneficial to some, but others will never actually use their degree in their field of choice because of the broken economy and the fact that they must take any job to start paying back their thousands of dollars in student loans.

The article Job Projections for College Grads: Harsh Realities appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Over the past several months President Obama’s overall job ratings have been alternately holding steady and inching upward. His ratings on the economy are following suit. In March, 32% of Americans gave President Obama positive ratings on his handling of the economy while 68% gave him negative ratings. This is the same as in February and an improvement from the 25% and 75% who rated him positively and negatively respectively in December and January.

While there is still a concern about unemployment, more Americans say the job market in their region of the country is good. Over the past three and a half years The Harris Poll has regularly asked Americans about the job market in their region of the country. An average of 11% have called it good between July 2008 and January 2012, however the last few months have seen a steady rise from the 9% who said the job market was good in October 2011, to the 14% who said so in January 2012, now 20% report these feelings in March 2012. Although the numbers are improving, a majority still says that the job market in their region is bad (56%) while 24% say it is neither good nor bad.

The improvements in the job market are encouraging, as is the belief that the job market is growing. Currently one third (33%) of Americans believe the job market in their region is going to be better over the next six months while half (50%) say it will remain the same. Only 17% think it will be worse, which is lower than the 25% who said this in July 2011 and the 21% who said so in January.

Politics and the Economy

In an election year, it’s not surprising that the economy and job market are considered political issues, and it is also not a surprise that opinions differ between Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

Currently over half of Democrats (59%) and Liberals (55%) give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of the economy while only 12% of Conservatives and 6% of Republicans do; Independents (26%) and Moderates (35%) fall somewhere in the middle. Possibly showing more faith in the current administration, almost half of Democrats say that the job market will be better in the next six months (47%) — one third (33%) of Independents agree — yet only 18% of Republicans say the same. A majority of Republicans think the job market will remain the same (55%) and over a quarter say it will get worse (27%).

Despite improvements in how Americans view the job market and expect it to change over the next six months, a majority are still concerned that their family’s income will not be enough to cover all of their costs and expenses this year.

Currently 63% of Americans say they are concerned, with 26% very concerned. This is not very different from the 62%-65% who stated concern over the past two years. Not surprisingly, the higher a person’s household income, the less likely they are to be concerned about covering their costs and expenses.

However, it is somewhat alarming that large numbers of people even in the highest income brackets — 61% of those who earn $75,000 to $99,999 and 41% of those who earn $100,000 or more — say they are concerned about meeting their costs and expenses. And, despite their differing opinions on President Obama’s role in the economy and the outlook for the job market, when Democrats and Republicans were asked about their own financial concerns the story is the same: over six in ten Democrats (61%), Republicans (63%) and Independents (65%) say they are concerned that their family’s income will not be enough to cover all of their costs and expenses this year.

The economy and unemployment have been the focus for political initiatives and public discontent for some time. However, there are some possible green shoots, in that Americans overall are feeling better about the job market and President Obama’s handling of the economy than they have indicated for many months.

However, the large number of Americans communicating concern about covering their family’s expenses is disconcerting and indicates that while we may be moving in the right direction, the country still has a way to go on the road to full economic recovery. It will be interesting to see how these issues and concerns are addressed by President Obama and his Republican opponent in the upcoming presidential election.

The article Survey: Americans Feeling Better About The Job Market appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

With the 2012 election season in full swing, the economy continues to be one of the biggest factors impacting Americans’ choice for president, with 49 percent saying their vote in November will be most influenced by the issue of jobs creation, according to the latest Workplace Insights survey by Adecco Staffing US, part of the world’s largest recruitment and workforce solutions provider.

The omnibus survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International on behalf of Adecco Staffing US, shows 36 percent of Americans believe President Obama has the most successful plan to create jobs in the U.S.

As far as the current pool of Republican candidates, only 15 percent of respondents believe Mitt Romney has the best plan to create jobs and about half that amount (8 percent) believe Ron Paul or Newt Gingrich (7 percent) have the best plan. Only 3 percent of Americans believe Rick Santorum has the most successful plan to create jobs.

“With economic growth and recovery still taking place, job creation is still understandably one of the most important things on the minds of Americans,” said Joyce Russell, EVP and President of Adecco Staffing US. “Given how many people are still looking for work, it should be no surprise that this issue has the power to ultimately decide who will win the 2012 presidential election.”

The survey also shows that Americans want the government’s help in bridging the job skills gap. In fact, 64 percent believe the government should offer job seekers additional skills training or education. Americans also believe the U.S. government could be doing more to create jobs, with 66 percent of respondents saying the government should give incentives, such as tax breaks, to businesses. Only 4 percent believe the U.S. government is doing exactly what it should be doing to create more jobs.

Additional survey findings include:

Perception of Temporary Jobs is Improving:  According to the survey, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans view a temporary job more positively that they did last year. In fact, 86 percent of those surveyed believe a temporary job is a good career option for people looking to gain valuable work experience.

Congress and the Federal Government More to Blame for Lack of Jobs than President Obama: Though 21 percent of respondents fault corporations and businesses for the lack of jobs creation in the U.S., Congress and the Federal Government are not far behind with 18 and 15 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, only 14 percent of Americans believe President Obama is most to blame.

Some Optimism about Job Market:  In spite of economic uncertainty, 60 percent of Americans believe there will be more jobs available in 2012 than there were last year.

Job Security Wins out over Perks for U.S. Workers:  Nearly a third (31 percent) of respondents said job security was most important to them—a noticeable increase compared to the 21 percent who felt this way in 2011. Job security is so important that 64 percent of Americans would consider leaving their current job if they had guaranteed job security. This is just slightly lower than those that would leave their job for increased salary or compensation (72 percent).

More Americans Plan to Speak Up about Raises, Promotion: Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of those surveyed plan to ask for a raise, bonus, or promotion in 2012, compared to 20 percent who said they had planned to do so last year. But it seems those plans went by the wayside in 2011: only half that number (13 percent) actually ended up asking for a raise last year.

Regardless of whether or not American workers plan to proactively ask for a raise, bonus or promotion, there is optimism that they will get one, as 41 percent of respondents plan on getting a raise, bonus, or promotion in 2012. This is definitely positive thinking considering only 32 percent of Americans actually received a raise in 2011.

Workers Broadening Their Career Options in 2012: The survey shows that Americans are more open to working in different fields than they were in 2011. In fact, 68 percent of respondents said they’d be more willing to take a job in a field outside of their degree or study today than they would have been last year.

emin kuliyev / Shutterstock.com

The article The Economy: The American Voter’s Determinant for President appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In the current political environment the job market continues to be one of the more important topics.  And, for the first time in months, Americans are indicating that the job market in their region of the country may be improving, albeit slightly.

In January 2012 14% of U.S. adults said that the job market in their region of the country is good, which is up from 9% who said so in October 2011, 11% who said so in September and 12% who said so two months earlier in July 2011.  The number of Americans who call the job market in their region bad has also dropped this month, to 65%, down from 67% who said so in October 2011.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,016 adults surveyed online between January 16 and 23, 2012 by Harris Interactive .Although these numbers are still low overall, with almost two thirds calling the job market in their region bad (65%) and one in five saying it’s neither good nor bad (21%), a minor increase is important, and may be reflective of real change.

Looking across the country it appears that the job markets in the East and South are the best, as 15% and 16% in those regions respectively say that the market there is good, while the Midwest and West may be struggling more—over two thirds in the Midwest (67%) and West (71%) call the job market in their region bad.

Further evidence that the national job market may be improving is the response seen when Americans were asked how they think the job market in their region will change over the next 6 months.  For the first time since March 2011 more people say that the job market in their region will be better—27% say so now, compared to 22% in July.  While this number shows an increase, it’s still lower than the three in ten who expected the job market to improve when asked during the first half of 2011 (30%-32% said so between January and May 2011).

Looking by political party there are stark differences in attitudes regarding the future of the job market—Democrats show significantly more optimism than do either Independents or Republicans.

Fully two in five Democrats expect that the job market will improve over the next 6 months (41%) compared to 24% of Independents and only 14% of Republicans who say the same.  Republicans and Independents are most likely to say that they think the job market will stay the same (56% and 55%).

This optimism about the job market may be related to perceived blame for the state of the economy.  When asked how much each of the following groups are to blame for their financial situation, a large majority of Republicans (84%) and over half of Independents (55%) say they blame the President.  This compares to fewer than one third of Democrats who say the same (30%).  When asked about other groups’ blame for the current financial situation some of the results include:

• Large majorities of Americans say they blame Congress (81%) and Wall Street (70%) for their financial situation;
• Two thirds say they blame large corporations (66%), fewer say they blame state government (62%) or the President (56%) and less than half say they blame local government (48%).

Similarly to how partisan differences may account for how much someone blames the President for their financial situation, Democrats are also significantly less likely than both Republicans and Independents to give President Obama negative ratings on his handling of the economy.

Overall one quarter of Americans say President Obama’s handling of the economy is excellent or very good (25%) while three quarters say it is only fair or poor (75%).  These numbers are unchanged since December 2011 despite the other improvements seen in perceptions of the job market.

The article Slight Improvement in American Local Job Markets appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.