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A college diploma has long been the ticket to a good job, but the deepest economic slump in decades has dampened the dreams of many U.S. college seniors.
The U.S. Census Bureau says 1.6 million college degrees will be awarded this year, a figure that has climbed steadily. Many depart school with expectations of making it on their own and with hopes of repaying student loans that average $22,500.
For seniors like Amanda Haimes at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, the drumbeat of bad news about the weak job market is worrying, even scary.
"People are saying this is the worst year to graduate, ever," she said in a telephone interview.
Confronted by a prolonged recession and a rising 8.5 percent unemployment rate, the highest U.S. rate in a quarter-century, some college seniors have grown "so anxious" and are not looking for a job, said University of Wisconsin, Madison, career services director Leslie Kohlberg.
Many seniors plan to go straight to graduate school to get a leg up while waiting for the recession to end, in some cases creating a glut of applicants.
A surging number of graduating seniors are vying for paid and unpaid internships and positions with nonprofit groups, and applying to the government-run Peace Corps, Teach for America and Americorps.
All the programs have more applicants than available spots, President Barack Obama said in a speech April 21 in which he signed legislation to quadruple to 250,000 the number of position in Americorps.
"They're going to be making subsistence wages, but they're doing something very gratifying until the job market improves," University of Wisconsin career counselor Randy Wallar said.
At campus job fairs, some students come away disappointed at the few positions offered as employers have cut back recruiting budgets. But employers make an effort to have a presence so as to be in position to compete for workers once the economy recovers.
The huge American baby boom generation will be retiring in coming years, and the generation emerging from college is only one-third the size so competition for their services promises to be fierce.
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(Agencies)
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大學(xué)文憑一直是找到一份好工作的敲門(mén)磚，但幾十年來(lái)最嚴(yán)重的經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退卻擊碎了眾多美國(guó)高校應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生的夢(mèng)想。
美國(guó)人口調(diào)查局稱(chēng)，今年美國(guó)的應(yīng)屆大學(xué)畢業(yè)生數(shù)量預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)160萬(wàn)，近年來(lái)這一數(shù)字一直呈穩(wěn)步增長(zhǎng)趨勢(shì)。很多應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生在離開(kāi)學(xué)校之際希望可以獨(dú)立謀生，并且希望能夠償還平均2.25萬(wàn)美元的助學(xué)貸款。
對(duì)于馬薩諸塞州伍斯特市克拉克大學(xué)的阿曼達(dá)?海默斯這樣的應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生來(lái)說(shuō)，疲軟的就業(yè)市場(chǎng)不斷傳來(lái)的壞消息令人擔(dān)憂(yōu)，甚至讓人心生恐慌。
她在接受電話(huà)采訪(fǎng)時(shí)說(shuō)：“人們都說(shuō)，這一年畢業(yè)最倒霉。”
威斯康星大學(xué)麥迪遜分校的就業(yè)指導(dǎo)員萊斯利?柯?tīng)柌裾f(shuō)，美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)持續(xù)衰退，失業(yè)率不斷攀升，目前已達(dá)8.5%，創(chuàng)25年來(lái)最高水平。面對(duì)這樣的形勢(shì)，一些大學(xué)應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生“非常焦慮”，甚至放棄了找工作。
很多應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生打算直接讀研，在等待經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)結(jié)束的同時(shí)給自己充電，這在一定程度上造成申請(qǐng)碩士學(xué)位的人數(shù)大幅上升。
越來(lái)越多的應(yīng)屆畢業(yè)生正競(jìng)爭(zhēng)非贏利性組織帶薪或無(wú)薪的實(shí)習(xí)崗位或職位，以及申請(qǐng)政府主管的“和平隊(duì)”、“美國(guó)援教”和“美國(guó)服務(wù)隊(duì)”等項(xiàng)目。
奧巴馬總統(tǒng)于本月21日發(fā)表演講時(shí)稱(chēng)，目前所有這些項(xiàng)目可提供的職位都供不應(yīng)求。奧巴馬在講話(huà)中宣布簽署法令，將“美國(guó)服務(wù)隊(duì)”的職位總數(shù)增至原來(lái)的四倍，達(dá)到25萬(wàn)。
威斯康星大學(xué)的就業(yè)指導(dǎo)員蘭迪?沃勒說(shuō)：“盡管他們的工資僅能維持最低生活水平，但他們?cè)诘却蜆I(yè)市場(chǎng)復(fù)蘇的這段時(shí)間所做的事情是非常令人愉悅的。”
在校園招聘會(huì)上，一些學(xué)生失望離場(chǎng)，因?yàn)檎衅竼挝幌鳒p招聘預(yù)算，招聘職位寥寥無(wú)幾。但招聘單位仍然盡力參加招聘會(huì)，以便在經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇后的招聘市場(chǎng)占據(jù)有利地位。
美國(guó)龐大的“嬰兒潮”一代在未來(lái)幾年內(nèi)將陸續(xù)退休，而近年來(lái)的大學(xué)畢業(yè)生數(shù)量?jī)H為其人數(shù)的三分之一，所以招聘市場(chǎng)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)將日趨激烈。
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（實(shí)習(xí)生許雅寧 英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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