How the Overcrowded Job Market Is Changing the Mindset of Universities and Students

• 2-minute read •
n today’s difficult economy, there are many qualified candidates coming out of top–flight graduate schools, but unfortunately there are not enough job opportunities waiting for them. The overall employment rate for the law school class of 2011 fell to its lowest level since 1994 – at just 85.6 percent. Even worse, merely 65.6 percent of law school graduates in 2011 found jobs that required bar membership in the first place, thus leaving 35 percent of law school graduates to either be underemployed or not employed at all. This problem of having too much labor supply, but not enough labor demand, is leading esteemed graduate schools such as Northwestern University, George Washington University, and the University of California’s Hastings College of Law to trim their admissions by taking up to 20 percent fewer students. There are a few notable exceptions, such as the University of Virginia’s 7th–ranked law program, which actually saw an increase in acceptance volume last year, but overall, schools are cutting down.

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