'97 job market strongest in years

Recent 'U' grads have high prospects in the U.S. job market

By Will Weissert
Daily News Editor

A University senior sat intently working on an application shortly before graduation last month.

Was he applying to graduate school or for a job in a far-away city?

No, he was working on was an application for employment at The Mongolian Barbecue. For this senior, and the hundreds like him, glamorous jobs have been hard to come by in a competitive job market.

But according to recent employment trends and work force surveys, the luck of college graduates nationwide is projected to improve over the coming months.

Manpower Inc., a national polling firm, questioned 16,000 companies nationwide about future staffing plans, asking firms if they intended to increase, decrease, or maintain staffs in the coming months. Manpower found that 30 percent of those employers polled said they were prepared to hire new workers - the highest percentage in nearly 10 years.

In addition to Manpower's results, the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that companies nationwide have been sending recruiters to college campuses in record-breaking numbers.

Bright economic forecasts such as these have left experts clamoring about graduate-friendly markets and an end to early '90s downsizing and employment slumps.

However, not all recent graduates have found the job market as friendly as promised.

"People talk about how great the job market is but I haven't seen the repercussions of that - I haven't been able to find a job," said recent LSA graduate Amy Adams, a philosophy and communications major. "I've interviewed in Chicago and am going to do some interviews in New York. I am optimistic, but I have had definite difficulties finding a job."

Economics Prof. Matthew Shapiro said all of the classic features of a strong job market are present, but there is no telling how long the market's strength will last.

"The reason the job market is strong is because of the usual economic reasons," Shapiro said. "We are experiencing the lowest unemployment in 30 years, and the economy is balanced and seems to be moving in a positive direction.

"We are in a recovery that begun in the early 1990s and there is nothing in the current outlook that says things will change drastically, but it is almost impossible to foresee dramatic events which will radically affect the economy and the job market," Shapiro said.

Surveys have found that companies are especially eager to hire engineers, computer scientists and students familiar with an array of information and operating systems.

But some who have experienced the market first hand said students looking for jobs in specialized fields may have a hard time finding work in their ideal careers.

"I didn't look too hard, I just applied for some jobs in chemistry in town and was offered a salary and benefits I could not turn down - I'm not unhappy, but I'm not working in my field," said Matt Bolang, who graduated in May with an SNRE degree.

"There are jobs out there and those jobs are easier for college graduates to get, but the work won't always be in the students' ideal field," Bolang said.

Some students, on the other hand, have made plans for life after college that have nothing to do with job availability or economic trends.

"I'm not really worried about looking for a job because I'm going to teach for AmeriCorps when I get done here," said Engineering senior Antwan Edison, who will graduate in August. "I haven't thought about the job market too much."

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