Recent college grads are doing shockingly well. Can it last?

By CNN Newsource

Published May 14, 2024 5:36 AM

Analysis by Nicole Goodkind, CNN

New York (CNN) — A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.

They may be at the end of the alphabet, but Gen Z’ers are pretty adept at pushing forward.

What’s happening: The economy hasn’t been easy for the class of 2020 (and the years around it), but thankfully, it’s getting much better.

Those students who graduated from college during the global pandemic, the recession it induced and the topsy-turvy economic environment it left in its wake, have experienced a much faster bounce-back in the labor market and stronger wage growth than any recovery in recent history, according to new research by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

The unemployment rate for recent college grads — workers between the ages of 21 and 24 — has recovered more than 2.5 times faster than in the aftermath of the Great Recession, researchers at the DC-based think tank found.

And recent grads aren’t just finding any job, they’re finding good jobs.

The underemployment rate for this cohort fully recovered just two years after the onset of the pandemic.

On top of that, the report found, young grads experienced inflation-adjusted wage growth for the first time this early in a recovery in at least three decades.

The labor market for recent college grads is now stronger than it was before the pandemic, which EPI economists Katherine deCourcy and Elise Gould say “was a direct result of an aggressive fiscal policy response to the pandemic’s economic shock.”

Those who graduated during the 2008-2009 recession, meanwhile, still haven’t fully recovered from chronic underemployment.

What it means: Millennials may never fully recoup the lost wages and career setbacks experienced during the Great Recession.

Those who graduated around the 2008 recession earned less money than other graduates for at least 10 to 15 years, according to a study published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. That lack of earning power has delayed homebuying, marriage and child rearing for so-called recession millennials.

Gen Z doesn’t appear to be having that problem. That’s likely a good thing for the strength of the consumer economy in the years to come.

Not all is well: The EPI study found that racial and gender wage gaps still remain large among recent grads.

On average, women are still paid $5.30 less per hour than their male counterparts, while Black and Hispanic workers are paid $3.24 and $2.07 less per hour than white workers, the research found.

And Gen Z’ers are taking on more debt than their millennial counterparts did at their age.

It also might not last. Employers’ hiring projections for the class of 2024 are down 5.8% year-over-year, according to a LinkedIn study released Monday.

GameStop, AMC shares skyrocket after meme stock trader posts for first time in 3 years

The surprise social media return of the trader who helped ignite the meme stock frenzy in 2021 sent GameStop shares skyrocketing Monday, reports my colleague Krystal Hur.

The surge had nothing to do with the troubled company’s fundamentals — and everything to do with a cartoon of a gamer that the trader Keith Gill, nicknamed Roaring Kitty, shared on X.

GameStop shares surged 74% on Monday after the account run by Gill shared a meme on X, marking its first post in three years. The shares skyrocketed by more than 110% earlier and were halted for volatility several times on Monday morning.

Short sellers saw $1 billion in losses betting against GameStop on Monday, according to data company S3 Partners. Short-sellers aim to turn profits on a stock by borrowing shares, selling them and returning them after purchasing them at a lower price.

Shares of AMC Entertainment, another meme stock, popped 78%. Reddit shares climbed roughly 9%. Shares of trading platform Robinhood Markets, which suspended purchases of GameStop, AMC and other meme stocks during the frenzy in 2021, rose 4%.

The image Gill posted depicts a man leaning forward in a chair with a video game controller in hand. GameStop had posted the same cartoon in February, but with a blue arrow and chair. In Gill’s cartoon, they are red. The meme is interpreted to convey, “when things get serious,” according to Know Your Meme.

Gill did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

GameStop shares tripped multiple circuit breakers — a temporary and mandated halt in trading to let investors cool off for a bit. Robinhood denied claims on social media on Monday that it had once again halted GameStop stock purchases on its platform.

“This is incorrect. Robinhood has not shut down the purchase of Gamestop shares,” Robinhood spokesperson Anupriya Ghate said in a statement to CNN. “GME is seeing elevated volatility and movement, which triggers market-wide exchange trading limits and halts. These are market-wide and not specific to Robinhood.”

Shein promised to tackle overwork. A new report claims 75-hour weeks are still common

More than a year after Shein promised to tackle excessive working hours in its supply chain, a new report suggests the Chinese fast-fashion company still has a problem.

Workers in some factories supplying Shein are still working 75-hour weeks, according to an investigation by Public Eye, a Swiss human rights advocacy group that first highlighted the alleged abuse back in 2021.

“The 75-hour weeks that we found out about two years ago still seem to be common at Shein,” the Swiss organization said.

Public Eye interviewed 13 textile workers employed at six factories in Guangzhou, a region in southern China, last summer. It found that staff worked an average of 12 hours a day, excluding lunch and dinner breaks, and usually for six or seven days a week.

Shein does not reveal the identity of its suppliers, Public Eye said in its report. The group said it established that the factories were Shein suppliers through interviewees’ responses as well as the presence of Shein products.

In a statement to CNN Shein said that it does “not recognize many of the allegations in (Public Eye’s) report.”

“The Public Eye report is based on a sample of 13 interviewees and, though all voices in our supply chain are important, this small sample size should be seen in the context of our comprehensive ongoing process to continually improve our supply chain, which involves engaging with thousands of suppliers and workers within the supply chain,” it added.