Politicians of both parties, as they prepare for their conventions, need to address an immediate problem: What is going to happen to the thousands of young people who graduated from college this spring but won’t be able to get jobs?
Anyone doubting the urgency of this problem should be alarmed by the findings of a survey of corporate executives recently conducted by the Cannon Consulting Group. We found that recent graduates without a substantial resume appear to have little hope of finding a job, as only 14 percent of companies said they would hire someone directly out of college with no work experience.
Employers are overwhelmingly dissatisfied, our survey showed, with the quality of American college graduates and with the ability of colleges to prepare students for the workplace. Seventy-four percent of companies feel that colleges and universities need to develop specialized educational programs that give students the skills to succeed on the job.
It has become apparent that unless politicians act on the issue of the unemployability of college graduates, employers may simply give up on the domestic workforce. The most alarming survey statistic of all: 77 percent of employers have no preference between hiring American or foreign workers. All they want is competent, skilled employees.
