The newest employment figures make it clear that job recovery is occurring at a rate which, if it continues, insures that the unemployment rate will hit below 8 percent by the time of the 2012 Presidential Election a year and a half from now!
The promising news is that private sector job growth is close to a quarter of a million for the past few months, a rate which is required for real job growth to occur, considering the constant growth of people seeking to join the job market. This means, however, that unless the job growth is more rapid that it is now, it will take about five more years to lower unemployment to a rate considered full employment , about six percent! Right now, unemployment has dropped one percentage point to 8.8 percent over four months, the fastest drop since 1983!
But certainly very clear is that the unemployment rate for those with a college education, a four year degree or more, is substantially lower than for those who dropped out of college or never attended.
So the message for young people remains one that education is good for your personal intellectual and emotional growth, but also for your potential to gain employment and earn more income! So dropping out, or not taking school seriously, is a tremendous mistake!