In the News: Unemployment Rate for Recent College Graduates Quadrupled from 2007

If you are a recent college graduate, odds are you are taking the brunt of these tough economic times.

Two years ago, the unemployment rate among college graduates was less than 3%. Today it’s more than 9%.

And with a continuing lack of job creation, those numbers are likely to increase — since the ’08 and ’09 grads will soon be competing with the ’10 grads for the limited number of entry level positions.

According to a recent CBS report, the problem is being compounded by the growing debt loads most graduates now have. The average student graduates with $3K in credit card debt and $23K in student loan debt (of course, 1/3 of all college students manage to graduate without any debt!). Federal student loans provide a six-month grace period following graduation, after which students are expected to begin repayment.

One option, implies the CBS piece, is joining the Peace Corps, Americorps or Teach for America — all of which are seeing a record number of application and all of which offer some form of student loan repayment/forgiveness in exchange for up to two years of volunteer service.

If you are a recent grad who finds him/herself facing unemployment, check out these job search tips for the recession. You may also want to read this post from Financial Aid Finder about reducing your student loan debt through volunteering for AmeriCorps.