Teresa Ghilarducci, Columnist

Your First Job Won't Be Your Dream Job. And That's OK.

The employment outlook may be improving for college seniors, but last year's graduates are still struggling. Here's what they can do to get ahead.

November 3, 2021 at 1:31 PM UTC

By Teresa Ghilarducci

Teresa Ghilarducci is the Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She's the co-author of "Rescuing Retirement" and a member of the board of directors of the Economic Policy Institute.

Get a job so they can really celebrate.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images North America

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The job market seems to be improving for college seniors, but those who graduated last year may still be struggling to find work. Their younger peers are landing jobs thanks to a better job market, along with internships and in-person professor interactions that they missed out on during the height of the pandemic.

Only 67% of graduates who received bachelor’s degrees in 2020 were employed, compared with 76% of their cohorts who graduated a year earlier, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another survey from employment website Monster shows that almost half of 2020 graduates were still looking for work a year after they had graduated.