Unemployment still a problem

The national unemployment rate -- currently at 6.4 percent -- continues to drop, and IU economists expect this decrease to continue until sometime next year, causing some students to worry about finding a job after graduation.\nAlmost two years after the recession, the job market is still in the slump it was in after the information technology boom. \n"I think it'll be better this year than it was last year," said Willard Witte, IU associate professor of Economics and director of the IU Econometric Model Research. "But students are still going to have a tough time."\nHe added that the shift away from manufacturing industries and toward more service-based jobs has added to the slump in the market. \n"Nowadays people have to be more dynamic in that they probably won't be keeping the same job for the rest of their life," Witte said. "Jobs that are being created are for service-type industries like medical services, telecommunications and media."\nWitte said Indiana has been hit particularly hard because it is largely a manufacturing state.\nAngela Patterson, a graduate student studying journalism, said finding employment is still very difficult.\n"I think what they look for these days is experience," Patterson said. "It also really helps to know people in the industry."\nPatterson, 22, will graduate in December and has yet to find a job despite completing two internships.\n"It's a cycle," Patterson said. "If a blue collar worker loses his or her job then that will affect me because those are people who would buy my newspaper."\nIU offers several programs to help students choose and develop their careers. One of these is the Kelley School of Business' Undergraduate Career Services, which holds career fairs, posts student web resumes and offers counseling as well as a number of other services.\n"Most students think that once class is done we're done, but that's not true," Susie Clarke, director of Undergraduate Career Services, said. "We're here 12 months out of the year, so people have every opportunity to get in touch with us."\nThe center also has "virtual job fairs" in which employers post jobs on the Web site. UCS will be holding another "virtual job fair" on Nov. 7. Students who are interested may sign up at the UCS Web site at http://bpo.indiana.edu/bpo-cgi.\nClarke added that despite the job market slump, UCS is doing well. \n"This program has been consistently successful and we're doing as well or better than our Big Ten peers," Clarke said. "We've had roughly 80 percent of students find jobs even in the current tight market."\nHowever, Clarke said she is aware of the obstacles that students are going to face while looking for jobs for the next year.\n"The bar continues to rise and it's not just your classmates that are competition, it's much more global," Clarke said. "Students just have to find what they enjoy doing and have the skills for."\n-- Contact staff writer Obaid Khawaja at akhawaja@indiana.edu.