The curse of graduating during a recession

You can download the event's slides here.

What’s on offer?

Each year early career economists at IFS deliver a day of public economics talks, aimed at A-level and undergraduate students who have an interest in economics or might want to pursue a career in public policy research. As part of this year’s Festival of Social Science, we will be live streaming a selection of lectures from the series to anyone who is interested in finding out more about economics. There will be time allowed for Q&A on each topic.

What’s it about?

Finding a job after finishing college or university is difficult at the best of times. Yet for young people unfortunate enough to graduate during a recession it's an even more challenging prospect. Around the world today, millions of young people are facing this exact challenge: finding their way into employment in economies that are reeling from the effects of a global pandemic.

While the immediate prospects of young people may appear bleak, the long-term effects of graduating during a recession are just as concerning. Evidence shows that young people who finish their education in the midst of a recession earn significantly less than other young people even ten years after graduating. Thus, there are economic scars from graduating during a recession.

In this talk, we'll set out both the short-term and long-term challenges faced by young people searching for work today, and also what policymakers can do to mitigate the perils of graduating during a recession.

Open to

These webinars are primarily aimed at final year undergraduates studying economics, but should be useful to anyone interested in the subject.