Gee, isn’t there a senator from Vermont running for president who’s popular with college students?

Bruce Parker writes at the Vermont Watchdog.

Vermont jobs outlook possibly worse than college students think

A recent survey shows college graduates are leaving Vermont because they think the state has a bad jobs outlook. Depending on which employment data they look at, the situation may be even worse than they think.

In a survey conducted by the Vermont Department of Labor and St. Michael’s College, more than 60 percent of graduates, and 75 percent of seniors, said they planned to leave Vermont after college — or said they already left.

Just 39.8 percent of graduates said they were staying in Vermont post-graduation, and only 24.5 percent of seniors said they plan to stay, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Among graduates who already left, 36.6 percent cited a “reported lack of job availability” as the reason for leaving. Of seniors who plan to leave, 38.1 percent said a “reported lack of available jobs” would be a key factor.

Responding to the news, Gov. Peter Shumlin blasted negative “perceptions” and touted 2,000 job openings among employers who attended the Labor Department’s mid-September job fair. Cabot, General Dynamics, Green Mountain Power and Dealer.com, among other companies, are “clamoring for the exact graduates who are leaving our state,” Shumlin said.