What April's Jobs Report Means for College Grads

Hiring in the U.S. slowed last month as employers added significantly fewer jobs than expected in April, but college grads are still about to enter the best job market in a decade.

Employers added only 160,000 jobs in April, lower than the 200,000 many economists had predicted. The unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent, the Labor Department said today. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 200,000 per month, with April's gains the weakest since last September. The Labor Department also revised down its employment figures in February and March by a combined 19,000.

While the report may worry some economists, college grads entering the labor force can still remain optimistic. The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 25 and over as of April was 2.4 percent, the lowest level since June 2008.

"This year's graduating college seniors aren't looking at the monthly numbers so much, or the story of the day," said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com senior economic analyst.

The addition of an average of 224,000 jobs per month over the past year is "far above" what is needed to keep up with normal growth in the labor force, said Gus Faucher, PNC deputy chief economist. Wage growth is also picking up as the job market tightens, which means higher starting pay, he explained.

Students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering or business, should fare even better in the job market, Hamrick said.

Labor force participation in April edged down a bit to 62.8 percent.

"That's not what we want to see, but also not a huge surprise," Hamrick said.

On the positive side, there was a modest rise in wage growth with average hourly earnings up 2.5 percent over the past year.

"That's not a jackpot for American workers, but it is progress," he said.

PNC chief economist Stuart Hoffman pointed out that there has been noteworthy job increases in nearly every sector but energy-related ones. He is upbeat on graduates entering the financial services industries, such as accounting, as well as those with science and engineering degrees.

"If your major is engineering in mining, obviously it's not a good time, but still those skills are applicable in a lot of industries," Hoffman said.

Health care fields are another bright spot for graduating seniors.

"Four or five yeas ago, that was really tough job market particularly for younger people out of school. It's a much more hospitable, but not to say easy job market for recent or soon-to-be graduates," Hoffman said. "I wouldn't take the April jobs report to be a bummer."

Hoffman also expects the number of job listings to reach a record high.

He added, "I would say for graduating college and technical high school seniors, this is a promising job market to get started on their career."