“Working as a barista after college is not as common as you might think.”

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Federal Reserve economists say recent college grads are doing better than many believe

The recent college graduate working in Starbucks is the nightmare of many parents and also of college admissions officers, who feel that stories about that stereotype discourage many prospective students.

Two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday released a summary of their recent research that finds the stereotype to be false and the economic difficulties of recent college graduates to be overstated. The headline of the summary: “Working as a barista after college is not as common as you might think.”

The economists — Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz — don’t deny that the economic downturn that started in 2008 depressed the job market for new graduates, and left many of them underemployed. But citing Census Department data, they show that most of the underemployment took place in jobs that pay better than food service and that most recent graduates have moved past their initial employment in jobs that didn’t require a bachelor’s degree.