College job satisfaction statistics

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          The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates

          This web feature provides regularly updated information on labor market outcomes of recent college graduates.

          

          2024:Q2 Quarterly Highlights

          Labor market conditions improved slightly for recent college graduates in the second quarter of 2024. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.5 percent and the underemployment rate inched lower to 40.5 percent.

          This web feature tracks employment data for recent college graduates across the United States since 1990, allowing for a historical perspective on the experience of those moving into the labor market.

          • compare the unemployment rate for recent college graduates with that of other groups
          • monitor the underemployment rate of recent college graduates
          • gauge the earnings of recent college graduates against workers holding only a high school diploma

          How to cite this report:

          Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, https://nyfed.org/collegelabor.
          

          Related reading:

          Foundational work informing this labor market analysis was published as Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession in the NBER Studies in Income and Wealth.

          Many underemployed college graduates actually work in “non-college” jobs that are fairly skilled and well paid, and transition into better roles after gaining some work experience. Learn more in Working as a Barista After College Is Not as Common as You Might Think.

          In Are Recent College Graduates Finding Good Jobs?, Abel and Deitz examine more than twenty years of data on the employment outcomes of recent graduates.

          An estimation of the return to a college education supports a conclusion that Despite Rising Costs, College Is Still a Good Investment.

          Disclaimer

          The data do not represent official estimates of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its President, the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Open Market Committee.

          About The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates

          This information sheds light on the employment experience of young people across the United States as they transition from college to the labor market. The underlying data are available for download.

          Data on unemployment and underemployment are updated quarterly, generally in February, May, August, and November. The wages and outcomes by major tabs are updated annually in February.

          Explore The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates Related New York Fed Content MEET THE ECONOMISTS Contact Us

          If you have questions about The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, submit them to research.publications@ny.frb.org.

          Is The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates web feature part of a greater study? Can you point me to it?

          We describe the framework for this analysis in “Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession” (NBER Studies in Income and Wealth) and “Are Recent College Graduates Finding Good Jobs?,” a 2014 article in the New York Fed’s Current Issues in Economics and Finance series. These papers examine more than two decades of data on the employment outcomes of recent college graduates across the United States, and contain more details and historical perspective. We launched this web feature to make some of the data featured in these papers available on a timely and updated basis. New unemployment and underemployment data for recent college graduates post on a quarterly basis (typically in February, May, August, and November), and wages and outcome data for college graduates are released on an annual basis (typically in February). Data extend from 1990 to the present. Periodic analysis of these data are published on the Liberty Street Economics blog.

          What is your definition of underemployment?

          Our definition of underemployment is based on the kinds of jobs held by college graduates. A college graduate working in a job that typically does not require a college degree is considered underemployed. We use survey data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET) Education and Training Questionnaire to help determine whether a bachelor’s degree is required to perform a job. The articles cited above describe our approach in detail. Some additional research that utilizes these data include “Working as a Barista After College Is Not as Common as You Might Think” (Liberty Street Economics).

          Is the underemployment figure calculated as a percentage of people in the labor force who only have a bachelor’s degree or as a percentage of all working people with a bachelor’s degree and also a graduate or professional degree?

          Our underemployment figures are calculated as a percentage holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, so they do include those with graduate and professional degrees. See the notes below the x-axis on the Underemployment chart for more detail.

          Can you further explain what the “Share with Graduate Degree” in the Outcomes by Major table means?

          The “Share with Graduate Degree” column in the table represents, for each college major, the percentage of workers with a bachelor’s degree that also possesses a graduate degree of any kind. For example, 50.2 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree in history also possess some kind of graduate degree, based on February 2022 data.

          Is this labor market data for the Second District/tri-state area or for the United States as a whole?

          All data presented here are national measures. Do you have data on the unemployment and underemployment rates for college graduates before 1990? Unfortunately, we do not.

          Does the Fed keep historical records on outcomes by major? The website seems to show only the latest year’s data.

          No, we only publish data that encompass the most recent year period available to utilize from the American Community Survey, which serves as the source for our analysis.

          Do you have these data available by gender?

          We do not have updated data by gender available in this web feature, but we did provide some gender analysis in “Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession.”

          Do you have data on associates degrees or technical certificates in addition to bachelor’s degrees? Unfortunately, at this time, our analysis only pertains to those with at least a bachelor’s degree. Does the college labor web feature still track “Underemployed Job Types”?

          No. Through 2023:Q2, we examined the types of jobs held by those who are underemployed, categorizing jobs broadly by skill level and pay to generate time series data for the percentages of graduates holding “good non-college jobs” and “low-wage jobs.” Starting with the 2023:Q3 update, the web feature will no longer include the data series for "underemployed job types," although historical data remain available for download.

          What are the age ranges for "recent" (or "early career") graduates and "mid-career" graduates?

          In our definition, early career graduates are those aged 22 to 27, and mid-career graduates are those aged 35 to 45.

          Boyarchenko, N., R. K. Crump, A. Kovner, and O. Shachar. 2021. “Measuring Corporate Bond Market Dislocations.” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 957, January, revised July.

          About The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates

          This information sheds light on the employment experience of young people across the United States as they transition from college to the labor market. The underlying data are available for download.

          Data on unemployment and underemployment are updated quarterly, generally in February, May, August, and November. The wages and outcomes by major tabs are updated annually in February.