It's easier to get into MIT than to get a job in this economy

Last Friday CNN declared that Landing a Job is like getting into Harvard. According to the report, there are 15.7 million officially unemployed people who are currently looking for work. Given that there are approximately 2.4 million jobs available, the likelihood of landing one of those jobs is about 15%.

Furthermore, two groups of people are not typically included in this unemployment statistic: people who are not actively searching for work, and second, people who are employed part-time but would rather be employed full-time. Because these groups of people are not counted in the unemployment statistics, it is estimated that the unemployment rate would increase to 19.2 percent, or 30.6 million people, if they were added to the official tally of the unemployed.

CNN says that "the odds of any one of these 30 million securing one of the 2.4 million full-time jobs available is 8 percent, the same as the admissions rate of the Ivy League gold standard, Harvard University." If you include

Job seekers, do not despair. We all know that the statistics are grim. Despite reports of economic recovery and signs of economic growth, true job recovery will take time. The best bet is to stay actively seeking for work. As soon as people stop looking, their chances of landing a new job fall close to zero. The good news is that students do get into Ivy League schools each year - and just like landing a new job, it will take a lot of persistence, hard work, and determination.