The class of 2016 will experience the best job market in years, according to a new research report. Unfortunately, significant gaps in employment and wages persist across gender for young college grads.
The number of employers looking to hire fresh college graduates is at its highest in nearly 10 years. In addition, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is also at its lowest since June 2008 at 5.6 percent, according to CNN.
Around 67 percent of employers said that they plan to hire fresh college graduates this year, compared to only 65 percent last year. More companies are hiring and there is an increase in pay, according to Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer of CareerBuilder.
More than 50 percent of newly hired graduates will be making an average of $40,000 while 26 percent will be earning $50,000 or more. These top earners are most likely graduates with degrees in business, engineering, science or tech.
Male college graduates are also at an advantage as men surpass women when it comes to wages, according to Huffington Post. The gap has widened since 2012, according to researchers of the report, which studied average data wages from the census Current Population Survey 2015.
College graduates who are male between ages 20 and 24 earn 8 percent more in 2016 compared to 2000. Female college graduates, on the other hand, earn 7 percent less than what they earned in 2000, according to the report released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Young male college graduates earn about $21 an hour. Young female college graduates, on the other hand, earn only $16,58 an hour.
The inequality among graduates between men and women is contributing to the gender wage gap as the average wage for men is increasing, according to Elise Gould, senior economist at EPI. On average, men earn more than women in the U.S. nearly at every income level.
Gould explains that the gender wage gap can be attributed to choice of major and occupation at some point. Discrimination and work experience are said to be other factors that affect the difference in wages.
According to the new research, rising income inequality is also pushing the wages between men and women apart. The gender wage gap is also highest for the highest-earning Americans.
