Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Hard times are looking up for recent college graduates. The job market for new college graduates has continued to improve but individual graduates’ chances of finding a job depends on their major. In our new report, From Hard Times to Better Times: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings we discuss the decline in unemployment rates among recent college graduates. This is the third installment of Hard Times where we update our previous analyses of college majors, unemployment, and earnings over the Great Recession using data from 2011 to 2012 to put the past few years into perspective. 

The third installment of Hard Times also analyzes changes in unemployment rates and annual wages for recent college graduates since 2009. According the findings, college still remains worth the cost in this post-recession economy for most students—especially those with higher education. 

In addition, most recent college graduates are more likely to be employed than high school graduates in the middle of their careers in almost every major. These college graduates maintain their wage advantage over high school graduates in the post-recession economy.