Job Creation for Connecticut Graduates
Campaigning around Connecticut, I have met countless students who are worried about their future. Many are experiencing the effects of this recession directly as they near graduation and begin looking for jobs. Next month, thousands of Connecticut college students will graduate, hoping to enter the workforce. The timing could not be worse. Last year, job offers to graduating college seniors decreased 21 percent, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Job offers are expected to decline another seven percent for this year’s seniors.
As they try to find their footing in this unstable market, college students are faced with more and more challenges and fewer opportunities. The Atlantic recently detailed the long-term effects recessions have on society, including the impact on college graduates who enter the workforce during a recession. Even those fortunate enough to find an employer will most likely be faced with lower wages and less opportunity for promotions and advancement throughout their careers. High unemployment rates drive down the starting wages for young Americans trying to start careers. The Atlantic notes one study showing the long-term repercussions:
Five, 10, 15 years after graduation, after untold promotions and career changes spanning booms and busts, the unlucky graduates never closed the gap. Seventeen years after graduation, those who had entered the workforce during inhospitable times were still earning 10 percent less on average than those who had emerged into a more bountiful climate.
According to the study, this is equivalent to piling an additional $100,000 of debt on new graduates who enter the workforce during a recession.
We need to create self-sustaining private sector jobs, not taxpayer-funded government jobs, in order to get our economy back on track. Small businesses are the engine of job creation in America. Instead of taxing and regulating small businesses into extinction, my economic plan calls for tax cuts and provides incentives to drive investments and empower businesses to grow and create new jobs. I also call for greater deductions for educational expenses.
Washington has put today’s college graduates deep in debt and created a truly disastrous economic environment. It’s time to get our country back on track.