Having attended and graduated high school during the height of the 1990's boom, the graduating class of 2003 entered college with the expectation of graduating with a first job already chosen from among the multitude of employment offers they would receive. Instead, the age cohort currently entering the job market after graduation this month faces the worst prospects for employment that have been seen in twenty years, and those lucky enough to secure jobs once considered undesirable will be among an envied minority. With hiring rates for new graduates hovering at less than two-thirds of year 2000 levels, applications to graduate and professional schools have jumped sharply---increasing rejections and leaving up to 60 percent of seniors at some colleges without post-graduation plans.
See DAVID LEONHARDT, The New York Times, May 13, 2003