Posted on: Monday, June 30, 2003

Job slide feeding graduate schools nationwide

By Chad Graham
Des Moines Register

The current job market is the worst in a decade — possibly two decades, according to career experts and companies that track such data.

Could it be time to consider grad school?

Maybe temporarily saying goodbye to job hunting is best, at least until the economy improves.

Live your life on a combination of part-time work at a coffee shop or as a teaching assistant, loans from the government and any more money your parents are willing to shell out.

The prospect of having to search for a job was partly why recent University of Iowa graduate Raychel Kolen will enter Iowa's master's degree program in journalism this fall.

Kolen's undergraduate degrees are in journalism and bass trombone performance — both areas where there are not many jobs available.

"I have a lot of friends who have graduated, are trying to find jobs and are coming up with nothing," she said.

Some — armed with double degrees since December — have found work on factory lines or in construction.

Kolen wonders what was the point of attending college if that's what the market offers after four years of hard work.

The dismal outlook will likely continue.

In 2002-03, employers expect to hire about the same number of new college graduates, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Additionally, the group's survey released in April found that about 42 percent of companies said they planned to cut college hiring.

"This is one of the worst markets in at least 10 years," said Camille Luckenbaugh, a spokeswoman for the association.

Meanwhile, the number of people applying to graduate schools has jumped 5 percent and is expected to keep climbing, said Peter Syverson, vice president for research at the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C.

Nationwide, applications to law schools skyrocketed 17.4 percent for 2002-03, according to the Law School Admission Council.