Class of '09 Enters Sour Job Market

Triple major Jody Ellsworth has had a full-time job for four years, working as much as 60 hours a week to pay her way through school.

All that came to end with graduation today because she doesn't have a job. "It's gonna go from waking up at 5:30 to go to work to run to class to run to meetings and then back to work to waking up whenever I feel like it," said Ellsworth. "Being a couch potato laying around on my parents' sofa. I'm not looking forward to that."

Worst of all, six months from now when her student loans come due, she'll be $30,000 in debt. "What I will do now ... is anything. Absolutely anything. Any crap job that I can get I'm gonna take. Babysitting, working on cars. Whatever it takes."

Four years ago, these young men and women of Syracuse enrolled with high hopes. But things have changed.

There is, however, a silver lining for the Class of 2009. Veteran career counselors point out that in the long run, demographics are on their side. "Older workers are going to be retiring," said Chuck Reutlinger, associate director of the Center for Career Services at Syracuse University. "They need new people in the pipeline and so that's what students should take encouragement from."