While Penn graduate students say they are not worried, the percentage of doctoral graduates finding employment dropped in various disciplines from 2001 to 2002.
But officials maintain the numbers are still good.
According to Career Services surveys -- conducted on the graduating classes a few months after their departure from campus in 2002 -- doctoral candidates have been relatively successful in obtaining academic jobs, as well as consulting opportunities, business, government service and non-profit organization positions.
"We have extremely able students in all our offices," Career Services Director Patricia Rose said. "Penn Ph.D candidates continue to meet with success."
However, many of Penn's doctoral graduates are nevertheless facing a tougher job market than in past years.
The Nursing School reported that 82 percent of its doctoral graduates had found a full-time job -- a decrease from the 96 percent employed in 2001. Unemployment also rose from zero to 4.5 percent.
This situation was echoed by the surveys from the School of Social Work -- in 2001, 96 percent of the graduating class was employed at the time of graduation. In 2002, that number had fallen to 80 percent.
Penn Law, meanwhile, registered a "slight downturn" in its graduates' employment rate, according to Career Planning and Placement Co-Director Claire Wallace. In 2001, 100 percent of the class was employed by the time of graduation, and in 2002, that number fell to 98.3 percent.
But overall, Career Services said that the situation is positive for most of the University's graduate programs.
"We haven't received any indication that students... are not getting jobs," said Genny Dunne, Career Services associate director for the schools of Education, Nursing and Social Work.
And many graduate students say they are confident that the current economic downturn will not negatively affect their career opportunities.
"If I want a job in a firm, I'll find one," second-year Law student Cortney Hoecherl said. The economy "seems to be sorting itself up."
Business students, too, are confident that they will profit in the job market.
"I am concerned, but not worried," first-year Wharton MBA student Leonardo Bourbon Cabral said. "I feel comfortable -- I think we're doing fine."
Jobs are relatively abundant for Wharton MBA candidates, but according to Wharton officials, graduates are increasingly choosing non-profit organizations over banking and consulting, which still remain the two most attractive fields to recent graduates.
"A lot of people in this class try to find quality of life career choices," MBA Career Management Director Peter Degnan said. "They're taking a step back instead of running for the dollar."
Engineering School doctoral candidates are faring well also, according to Career Counselor Monica Tavares.
"A significant number has found employment," Tavares said, adding that most of the jobs are offered at the private industry level.
While graduate school appears to guarantee a better shot at employment in most fields, surveys indicate that there is an increasing difficulty in obtaining tenure-track positions in academia.
"As the economy has weakened, faculty positions in public institutions have been frozen or not filled with full-time faculty," Rose said.
Attending graduate school has become a rising trend over the past few years -- approximately 28 percent of College of Arts and Sciences graduates in 2002 went on to attend graduate school, as opposed to 20 percent in 2000. Full-time employment of College graduates fell from 68 percent in 2000 to 53 percent in 2002.
