By Tyler Spivey

Finding employment today could prove to be a challenge for anyone, but young adults are finding the current job market especially difficult.

“Jobs are still scarce,” said Tara Huchison, the public information manager for the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

Huchison explained that the reason jobs were scarce for young adults, was in part because those jobs are being filled by older people.

Older generations are choosing to delay retirement in today’s economy, leaving young adults without work to support themselves and add to their experience, she said.

Huchison offered some advice to young people seeking employment.

“Talk to everyone.” she said. “Our advice would be to constantly network.”

The PI manager recommended taking internships, and she said that even social networking can help to find a job.

“Businesses are facing uncertainty,” said Scott Beaulier, the executive director and professor at the Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University.

Beaulier said that businesses are concerned about healthcare legislation and several other issues.

He reports that 18 percent of people ages 16-24 are unemployed; joblessness for the males of this age group is 20 percent.

Beaulier recommended that college students show “consciousness,” in their work.

“Go that extra mile,” he said.

And Beaulier’s students have their own advice for those entering college, or searching for work.

“Get a degree that matters,” said Brett Mcglawn, “Don’t get a liberal arts degree.”

Mcglawn said he had a friend who graduated from Auburn University with a mathematics degree who was unemployed for eight months after he graduated.

“You can’t give up,” said Quinita Jackson, another of professor Beaulier’s students.

If a student is interested in employment while in school, Jackson recommended finding a job that fits around class schedules.

However, she said, that can be difficult as well, as it took Jackson three years to find a job that works around her schedule.

“It’s very hard to find a job,” she said.