Grads Grind Away with Low Pay as U.S. Mends

Is everything all right in our economy?  It depends on where you find those providing answers. Consider the young woman quoted in the article below.   PB
----

From Bloomberg.com:

Nickole Gambrill is still paying the price for graduating college at the wrong time.

She and other students who earned diplomas in the aftermath of the deepest U.S. recession since the 1930s are experiencing an earnings hangover that could last a lifetime, even as the labor market heals.

Gambrill accepted the first paralegal job she could get after finishing classes at Towson University in Maryland in December 2010, when the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent.

“I’ve been here for three years, but I still consider myself entry-level,” said the 27-year-old from Baltimore, who makes about $44,000 annually.

“Your raises and income are based off of your original salary. If it were a better economy, I would have started off at a higher salary.”

Students entering the job market in 2010 and 2011 took a 19 percent pay cut from what they could have expected without a recession ... about double the penalty in prior downturns.

Many of the estimated 3.37 million graduates earning baccalaureate degrees in those two years accepted positions they were overqualified for out of desperation.

Those entering the workforce in the shadow of the recession were 2.2 percent of an approximately 154 million-member labor force competing for fewer jobs and now may have eroded skills and sparse resumes.

As the labor market improves, new graduates may outshine them.

“If you come out now, it really is a much better world, you’ll have much better success,” said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce in Washington, who said those who got diplomas closer to the recession will experience lasting disadvantages.

“The employer looks at the one who just graduated and the one that’s five steps back, and they think the new one is better.” 
----
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-23/pay-penalty-haunts-recession-grads-as-u-s-economy-mends.html