But not all young graduates are thriving. EPI found 1 in 10 young graduates were "idling" as of March 2024, meaning they were neither employed nor going back to school.
"The economic conditions at your labor market entry matter a lot," Hannes Schwandt, associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, tells CNBC Make It. EPI cited"In general, when recessions come and economic conditions worsen, companies stop hiring before they start firing — they hire fewer people," he says. "That means that people who are entering the labor market are impacted almost more than other parts of the labor market.
"We see that there's continued income losses and for those with the best grades who have higher potential, they fully catch up only after maybe eight to 15 years," Schwandt says. " a very slow catch-up process."examining outcomes of workers entering the labor market between 1976 and 2015, Schwandt and his collaborator, Till M. von Wachter, found those who entered the workforce during periods of high unemployment saw a substantial impact on their earnings for 10 years.
"If you start with a job, you will continue on a better trajectory compared to starting at a lower-quality job like smaller firms with less pay and less growth and less learning," Schwandt says.