Jobs and the Class of '09

It‘s the toughest job market in years out there. Unemployment at 8.9 percent, 600,000 of your elders losing their jobs every month and scrambling for any job in sight — even the ones you’d normally be taking.

A third or more of new grads, by one estimate, are without jobs or even plans. Many more are going to Plan B. Survival mode. Whatever it takes. Maybe home again.

This hour, On Point: The class of 2009 steps into America’s economic crisis.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.Guests:

Joining us from Washington is Sara Lipka, a reporter covering student life for the The Chronicle of Higher Education.

From New York we're joined by Ashley Barton, a journalism major graduating Friday from Stony Brook University, where she will give the student commencement address. She is 22 years old and looking for a job in media.

From Wyckoff, N.J., we're joined by Michael Madormo. He graduated Monday from Boston College, where he majored in international studies. He will be joining Teach for America as an English teacher in Hawaii next year. He is 22 years old.

And from Washington we're joined by Mike Schaub, executive director of the Career Education Center at Georgetown University.