The Unemployment rate is near an all-time low, but what does this mean if you’re trying to get a job as a new grad, or even as an older job seeker?
According to a recent release by the Department of Labor, unemployment is down to 3.6% nationwide, the lowest rate since 1969. For job seekers, that sounds like something to be optimistic about.
Carl Carlson, CEO of Carlson Financial spoke with us about how that looks for new graduates, who probably represent a large share of job seekers.
Carlson said it’s a great time to be coming out of college right now, as opposed to about 10 years ago. It’s even quite a big improvement over last year – employers plan to hire 11% more new grads from the class of 2019 than they did from 2018.
It's not quite evenly distributed across most majors and industries though. Demand however is up for almost every degree category and employers are paying more than they did last year across many different industries, from business to the social sciences. We’re seeing more demand the STEM degrees– Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Engineering was the top paid major in 2018 with a starting salary near $70,000, Carlson said.
Even with all the graduates entering the workforce year after year, the fastest growing segment of the population in the workforce is actually those over age 65. Carlson said this could be because they haven’t saved enough yet to retire or they just prefer to work.
We do know that three out of four people over age 65 are actively looking for employment, at least on a part time basis. Within the next couple years, the Bureau of Labor is expecting that those ages 65-74 will represent 32% of the workforce, up from 20% in 2002.
So those over 65 are looking for working AND finding it. In fact, the unemployment rate for that group is even lower, 2.9% in April, Carlson said.
So no matter which age group you’re in, it’s a great time to be looking for a job. Even if you’re happy – it never hurts to look!
