Has The Recession Been Hard On College Graduates?

Yes. But it has been hard on many people. This issue came up in a recent WSJ article titled College Grads' Outlook Grim: Students Begin the Search Early, Look to 'Plan-B' as Campus Recruitment Falls. Here some key exerpts:

"Companies have cut back hiring and when they do have jobs, they have plenty of experienced applicants to pick from. College graduates typically need further training and seasoning, so many employers are skipping college career fairs this year or tapping former interns if they need fresh talent."

"But there are some bright spots: The unemployment rate for people ages 20 to 24 with a bachelor's degree was 7.2% in March, down from 7.6% a year earlier and below the 21.9% jobless rate for those in the same age group with high-school degrees only.

Preliminary data from a spring poll of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers show college-graduate hiring could rise 3% to 5% this year after falling 22% last year."

"... business and technical majors are likely to see the most demand, particularly as Wall Street resumes hiring."

So it looks like things will be better this year than last year. Also, things are much worse for people without college degrees, as the above figures indicate. High-school only people had an unemployment rate nearly 3 times that of those with college degrees from ages 20-24. I looked at something similar a few months ago with How Recessions Affect Young People. One thing that post mentioned is that those who graduate during recessions see their lifetime incomes cut quite a bit.