(CBS NEWS) – CBS reports that Angel Escobedo started looking for work a year and a half ago, even before completing his college degree at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Now, with less than a week to go before graduation and having applied to more than 150 jobs, he’s still searching.

Escobedo’s predicament illustrates the challenges that many young Americans, even those with impressive academic records, are having entering the nation’s workforce amid a broad decline in job listings and as they compete with more experienced people.

“They’re sort of missing out on the ability to jump into the labor market,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “It’s not a new phenomenon, but it is a concerning phenomenon.”

For young adults ea

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