Pandemic wrecks global Class of 2020's hopes for first job
British fashion school graduate Phoebe St Leger's dream of landing a job at a design label is on hold. Like many others in the global Class of 2020, the pandemic is clouding her career ambitions. The coronavirus forced the cancellation of her university graduating class's final-year fashion show, removing the chance to show her knitwear collection to people in the industry, some of whom might have liked her work enough to offer her a job. Instead, St Leger, 22, returned to her family home in Winchester, southern England, and submitted her classwork online. She has applied for about 40 jobs and received only rejections. "All the jobs have all dried up — everywhere," she said. She knows graduates from previous years who have been fired or furloughed and is prepared to get a job at a bar. "It's still hard to be hopeful when you're not seeing anyone doing well at the moment."
COVID-19 has thwarted hopes of landing first jobs — important for jumpstarting careers — as employers cut back graduate recruiting plans or even revoke job offers. The latest US job numbers Friday underscored the murky outlook: 1.8 million jobs were added in July, a sharp slowdown in employment growth from the month before. It means the world's biggest economy has regained just 42 per cent of jobs lost to the coronavirus.
The problem, like the pandemic, is global. Graduate job vacancies for July are down from the previous year in 10 countries, according to Adzuna, a job postings search engine. Britain, India and the Netherlands have seen the biggest declines, with postings down by more than half from a year ago, but other countries including Austria, Australia, Brazil, and France are also seeing double digit percentage drops.
Graduate jobs are expected to shrink in 21 countries, with most unlikely to recover next year, according to a separate report by Britain's ISE. Maria Jose Casco, a newly qualified doctor, hasn't found work af ter graduating in Ecuador in April. "They're looking for temporary staff they can easily fire," Casco said. She and her husband are living off savings and his USD 480 monthly salary and, like others, are considering emigrating. "Because there is no future, many of my colleagues are looking at the possibility of leaving Ecuador." The pandemic is compounding problems for young people in countries plagued by chronic economic instability.