California Conservative

Reuters reports: “Best job market in 5 years for grads”:

U.S. college graduates are facing the best job market since 2001, with business, computer, engineering, education and health care grads in highest demand [...]

"We are approaching full employment and some employers are already dreaming up perks to attract the best talent," [...]

Graduates with economic or finance degrees will see the biggest gain with starting salaries up 11 percent to $45,191, while accounting salaries are up 6.2 percent, business management salaries up 3.9 percent and pay for civil engineers 4.3 percent higher.

Pretty remarkable for an economy that has endured Katrina and 9/11. That an economy should survive those things is historically notable. That it should thrive is simply historic.

A note of caution from the above, however.

[...] graduates should not assume the improved labor market will guarantee everyone a job.

"Even as demand and salaries rise, college students should not be lulled into thinking that the job search will be easy or that jobs will be handed to anyone with a degree," he warned.

True dat. Why do I point this out? To juxtapose it against a more tragic situation.

VIOLENCE flared at the end of a giant anti-government protest in France yesterday as youths fought running battles with riot police in Paris after burning a car and smashing several shop windows. [...]

Sébastien Lasau, 26, a railway worker, confirmed that many of the rioters were students. “They are daddy’s boys from the chic arrondissements. They came equipped with scarves and lemons to counter the effects of the tear gas, and many of them have ski goggles as well.”

Students have closed 16 universities and disrupted classes at 35 others in protest at the law, which is intended to encourage hiring in companies wary of taking on new staff. Chirac called … it “an important element in the policy of fighting unemployment”.

French unemployment among young people is generally quoted in the 20-30% range, double the rate in the US and in freer European economies such as Britain’s. The source of this problem, to state the obvious, is a lack of job creation.
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