Slowed job growth announced for April

Reports of a weak national economy could spell trouble for students receiving their diplomas next week - but Penn students will hopefully remain unscathed.

In its monthly report on national employment, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that employers only added 88,000 jobs in April, the smallest increase in two years.

Experts say the slow job market could prove worrisome for recent college graduates.

"I would say that people aren't going to be quite as quick to hire as they were in the past," and wages will probably not be as high as graduates had hoped, said Elise Gould, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research institute.

Gould released a study Wednesday on college graduates aged 25-35 in the job market indicating that the number of graduates working has steadily risen since 2003 - a trend that could be hurt by a recent slowdown in economic growth.

The study also found that the real wages have declined from an average of $24.54 in 2001 to $23.60 in 2006.

Particularly troubling is the elimination of 11,000 jobs in the financial services businesses because many college graduates go into banking or consulting, as well as a weak first quarter, which grew at the slowest pace in four years,

But Career Services officials say they are not worried about the trend affecting the Class of 2007.

"Lots of Penn students make their plans long before graduation," Career Services Director Patricia Rose said. Rose said that last year, 85 percent of graduating seniors received by May the job offer they eventually accepted.

Although Career Services does not yet have figures on the number of seniors hired, she said she expects the number to be "in line with last year's number."

In addition, Rose said, surveys that Penn conducts of graduating seniors show that Penn students' salaries have not been decreasing in line with the national average.

Gould also predicted that now would be a good time for students to consider going back to school as wages fall, but Rose said the number of Penn students going directly to graduate or professional school - about 20 percent - is also expected to stay the same or drop.

Wharton senior Healey Cypher pointed to Penn's on-campus recruiting as the source of students' success in the job market.

"OCR is a pretty amazing advantage that Penn has," Cypher said. "As far as the job market goes, it might be slowing down, but . Penn is still a go-to place" for potential employers.

Despite the success of students seeking jobs in investment banking and consulting - the jobs that draw the most potential employers during OCR - Cypher said his friends seeking top marketing jobs had difficulty finding employment.

He said many of the jobs, based in New York, did not pay enough at the starting level to cover the cost of living.

Overall, though, he said he feels as if the fall in the job market isn't affecting Penn.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.