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The Economy Is Hiring More Efficiently

The graduation season has come to a close. College seniors have finished their finals, cleaned their apartments and dorm rooms. They are embarking on the next phase of life – their first “real” job.

Entering the workforce has not been easy for young people in recent years. “When recession hit in late 2007, the job market was yanked out from under them during the critical first decade in which careers are built. After 2007, graduates faced a double-whammy. Unemployment was high when they entered the labor market, and remained high for years,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Many of those entering the labor force spent time not having a job or taking one or several part-time jobs that were not in their desired career path or for which they were overqualified, hurting them both financially and experientially.

However, things now are beginning to change. With the unemployment rate now at 5.4%, the better the career prospects for grads, yielding better long-term wages and career growth prospects. For this year’s graduating class, they “will be starting first jobs with an unemployment rate below the average of the past 40 years, foretelling career success, according to labor economists.” Not only that, but they are emerging into the workforce at a time where resources for helping people obtain work is at an all-time high, with options like resumes created by Cultivated Culture free to access online, alongside other means for people to find work related to their fields of study.

Career launch

The economy isn’t just hiring more, it is hiring more efficiently and differently. Online platforms like LinkedIn and Monster.com have created effective marketplaces for job seekers and hiring managers alike. Other digital marketplaces like Uber or TaskRabbit help individuals participate in the labor force easily. According to analysis from McKinsey, “As online talent platforms grow in scale, they will become faster and more effective clearinghouses that can inject new momentum and transparency into job markets while drawing in new participants. Our supply-side analysis shows that online talent platforms could add $2.7 trillion, or 2.0 percent, to global GDP by 2025, while increasing employment by 72 million full-time-equivalent positions.”

talent platforms