Number of the Week: College Grads in Minimum Wage Jobs

Ben Casselman:

284,000:Number of American college graduates working in minimum-wage jobs in 2012.

The Wall Street Journal this week reported on the troubling trend of college graduates getting stuck in low-skilled jobs, a problem that new researchsuggests may endure even after the economy improves.

As the story noted, college graduates tend to earn more than their less-educated coworkers, even within the same field. But that isn't true for everyone: According to the Labor Department, there were 284,000 graduates--those with at least a bachelor's degree--working minimum-wage jobs in 2012, including 37,000 holders of advanced degrees. That's down from a peak of 327,000 in 2010, but double the number in 2007 and up 70% from a decade earlier

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 1, 2013 1:13 AM
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