Linda Barrington, the New York City-based managing director of the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University’s ILR School and a former labor economist with The Conference Board in NYC, comments on some lingering troubles buried within the federal job numbers released today.
Barrington says:
“Those with college degrees have been struggling in 2013 to see strengthening in their job market, and the unemployment rates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics appear to provide supporting evidence that this struggle continues. “While having a bachelor’s or higher degree still puts you in a far better situation than not, the unemployment rate among those with a bachelor’s or higher degree is no better than where the year started six months ago. Hovering just under 4 percent, this is roughly double what those with college degrees were facing in 2007 before the most recent recession began.
“One other group of Americans who saw their unemployment rates tick up slightly this month is African Americans. Remaining above 13 percent since January of 2009, the June unemployment rate for African Americans reported in at 13.7 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from last month’s 13.5 percent.”
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