In my previous post I discussed how English majors in general, and those writing about nature specifically, could apply their skills to various functional areas in marketing.  In this post I highlight a few relevant trends and statistics for students to consider as they launch their careers.

Mark Twain once quipped “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”  In a recent speech David Brooks of The New York Times mentioned a Time magazine survey that found “19 percent of Americans believe they have incomes within the top 1 percent.   Another 20 percent believe they will be within the top 1 percent one day.”   Since the top 1 percent have, according to G. William Domhoff of the University of California at Santa Cruz Sociology Department, “a net worth of $5,000,000 or above, and if working make over $300,000 per year while the average American family has a pre-tax income in the mid-$50,000 range and net worth around $120,000” there is obviously a tremendous disconnect between reality and perception.

To help students have a more realistic perception of employment following graduation then the general public does regarding wealth, this column reviews key statistics and trends individuals need to be aware of as they launch their career. 

Topic #1: Natural rate of national unemployment

Trend:  As The September 10, 2011 Economist summarized: "Globalisation and technological innovation are bringing about long-term changes in the world economy that are altering the structure of the labour market.  As a result, unemployment is likely to remain high in the rich economies even as it falls in the poorer ones."

Statistic:  Edmund Phelps, a Nobel prize-winning economist, thinks that the “natural rate” of unemployment is now around 7.5%, significantly higher than only a few years ago.  With this in mind it appears that the U.S. unemployment rate, around 9.2%, has the potential to only decrease modestly over the next few years.

Topic #2: College graduates and full time employment

Trend:  In a May 18, 2011 New York Times article, Catherine Rampell noted that employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years.  What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree.

Statistics:  53% of 2006-2010 college graduates are employed full time and 81% reported that it took them over six months to land a job.  

Topic #3: Starting salaries

Trends: The Economic Policy Institute reports, the average starting salary of young college graduates, adjusted for inflation, has dropped by almost a dollar in the last 10 years.

Statistics: Median annual income of starting salaries for college graduates falls between $26,756 and $30,000. According to a report by the U.S. Government, the median income for all American full-time workers is $33,196.  One other statistic to be aware of: the number of people between the ages of 20-29 with a four year college degree living in poverty status is on an upward trend (6% in 2002 to 8% in 2010)

Topic #4: Employment opportunities for graduate students

Trend:  Over just three decades, the proportion of college instructors who are tenured or on the tenure track plummeted.  This trend continues to spiral downward and shows no signs of reversing.

Statistics:  "In 1975 57% of college instructors were either tenured or on the tenure track.  In 2009 that number plummeted to under 30%.  If you add graduate teaching assistants to the mix, those with some kind of tenure status represent a mere quarter of all instructors."  Additionally, in his July 10, 2011 Chronicle of Higher Education article, Leonard Cassuto noted that the "American Historical Association reported a decline of more than 40 percent in tenured openings during 2008-2010 and during the fall 2010 there were just 52 openings altogether.  Data from the Modern Language Association show an almost-40-percent drop in positions in English advertised at the rank of associate professor or above in the last two years, and only 61 positions at those ranks in 2009-10."

Topic #5: Employment opportunities for law school graduates

Trend: In his New York Times article "Is Law School a Losing Game?" published January 8, 2011 David Segal concluded that "A generation of J.D.’s faces the grimmest job market in decades. Associates have been laid off, partners nudged out the door and recruitment programs have been scaled back or eliminated. And with corporations scrutinizing their legal expenses as never before, more entry-level legal work is now outsourced to contract temporary employees, both in the United States and in countries like India."

Statistics: In an October 16, 2011 article The Chronicle of Higher Education noted that according to the National Association for Law Placement, only about 64 percent of 2010 law graduates had jobs requiring a law license nine months after graduation.  For graduates with full-time jobs, the median salary fell 13 percent, to $63,000, from the previous year.

These five trends and related statistics offer a brief yet necessary view of the job market for college students and recent graduates.  The data included here by no means represent a complete picture of today's dynamic and ever changing global marketplace.  Instead, the data merely serve as a starting point for those students and recent graduate who wish to familiarize themselves with a few of today's key trends. 

As Alvin and Heidi Toffler wrote in their 2006 publication Revolutionary Wealth "In today's hyper-change environment, however, once similar things also change and very often become markedly dissimilar, often making conclusions based on the analogy false and misleading.  To deal with today, therefore, we need not only new knowledge but new ways to think about it."  I hope this column in some small way helps students think differently about the marketplace as they launch their career.

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Michael Edmondson, Ph.D. is the co-founder of MEAPA a professional development company for the 21st century.   He is the co-author, along with Dr. Peter Abramo, of several publications including The ABCs of Marketing Yourself: A Workbook for College Students and How To Succeed With A Liberal Arts Degree.  He is also the Director of Marketing and Recruiting and Adjunct Faculty for Marketing and Entrepreneurship at The Philadelphia Center, one of the nation's oldest experiential education off-campus programs.