Data Watch

College Students and Recent Graduates Optimistic About Their Job Prospects

An erratic stock market, subprime mortgage scandals, and fears of recession seem to be having little effect on college students' and recent graduates' job search expectations. A large majority are quite optimistic about the prospects they face in the job market, according to a new poll.

Last month CollegeRecruiter.com asked college students and recent graduates, "If you were to start looking for a new job today, how many months would you expect it to take to find one?" Almost 75% of respondents expected that it would take them only three or fewer months to find a job. Furthermore, fewer than 13% believed that it would take them longer than a year.

One reason for their exuberance may be the dearth of unemployment. Only 2.1% of professionals with college degrees are currently unemployed, and the overall unemployment rate of 4.7% is itself low.

Employment in the staffing industry is also robust, American Staffing Association (ASA) News reports. According to an ASA survey, staffing industry employment grew to an average of 3.05 million jobs per day in the third quarter, a new third-quarter high and only the third time on record that the industry has surpassed the three million mark. Furthermore, an U.S. sales of temporary and contract staffing services hit a quarterly record high of $18.9, an increase of 3.6% over the same period of the previous year and the strongest rate of growth in a year and a half.