The hight unemployment for college-age Americans may be caused by older generations who have yet to retire.
“There are simply not as many jobs as there were before the recession,” said Emin Hajiyev, assistant director for the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State.
Many millennials are not being employed because older, more experienced employees are dominating the work force.
Hajiyev said that the recession forced many employees who were supposed to retire years ago to keep their positions longer, meaning jobs that would have been open for college graduates are now “occupied with people who have been in the field for a while.”
Businesses are also less likely to take chances on new employees during a stagnant economic period.
“Over past years, companies don’t invest,”Hajiyev said. “They hire for the complete package, people with skills; they don’t want to train graduates.”
Though students may participate in internships, which offer hands on, real world experience, competing with seasoned workers who have spent years in a field can be difficult.
To combat these struggles, Hajiyez advised students to pick up “marketable skills” while in school.
Skills that are not taught in the classroom.
He added that graduates should always have a game plan to make themselves as appealing to employers as possible.
