1 in 2 College Graduates Unemployed or Underemployed

poorrichardsnews:

In recent months, polls have been conducted showing President Obama’s approval numbers among young Americans isn’t even close to what it was in 2009.  This is likely one of the main reasons…

from the AP:

The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.

A weak labor market already has left half ofyoung collegegraduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge.

Young adults withbachelor’s degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wagejobs— waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that’s confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.

An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor’s degrees.

Opportunities forcollege graduatesvary widely.

While there’s strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor’s degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.

Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor’s degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.

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The United Steelworkers Union just announced support for OccupyWallStreet. They are the largest N. American Union at 850,000 members!

Food Pantries Face Unprecedented Demand They Can't Fill

For the third consecutive year, Hunger Action Month has had to contend with a 1 in 6 hunger rate, the highest percentage since such monitoring began in 1995, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

As 49 million Americans struggle to put food on their plates, pantries around the country are grappling with an unprecedented demand—and diversity in clients—that they often can’t afford to accomodate.

“We are seeing many more seniors, but we’re also seeing many more families with children,” Doreen Wohl, executive director of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, told the Huffington Post. “People are coming as a last resort. They’ve exhausted all other resources.”

WSCH, the largest food pantry in New York City, has seen a 48 percent increase in clients over the past three years and served more than 88,000 meals in July alone.

Enid Borden, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels, has seen a similar swell in clients.

“In this economic downturn, we have found that those very same seniors who were once our volunteers, are now in need of our services,” Borden told the Huffington Post. “This is the richest nation on the face of the earth, but the people who raised us and fed us and tilled the soil are going hungry.” [read more]