Thursday, October 17, 2024
NALP: Class Of 2023 Achieved Record Jobs Results, But Racial/Ethnic Disparities Persisted
Following up on my previous posts:
- ABA: Class Of 2023 Jobs Data: Full-Credit Jobs Rate Rises To 85.6%, Up From 84.6% Last Year (Apr. 23, 2024)
- NALP: Class Of 2023 Had Highest Employment (92.6%) And Salaries ($160,000) In History (July 28, 2024)
Reuters, Racial, Ethnicity Gaps in New Lawyer Jobs Persisted in 2023, Amid Robust Job Market:
A blockbuster job market for new law grads in 2023 did not alleviate racial and ethnicity disparities in employment rates, data released on Wednesday by the National Association for Law Placement shows [Jobs & J.D.'s: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates — Class of 2023].
Even as the gaps narrowed for most minority groups, the employment disparity between white and Latino law grads increased from the previous year. The disparities are widest when looking at legal jobs that require bar admission, which are considered by many as the gold standard for J.D. employment. Among white law grads, 84% had secured those positions within 10 months of graduation. But of Black law grads and Native American or Alaska Natives, 73% were in those jobs. Just 80% of Latino law grads secured those jobs, four percentage points lower than their white classmates. Asian law grads had 81% bar passage-required employment rate, while Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders posted the lowest such employment rate at 67%.
Although the Class of 2023 graduates entered a record-breaking job market, new NALP analyses show that disparities in employment outcomes by race/ethnicity persisted. Graduates of color had lower overall employment rates compared to White graduates, with the gap increasing this year for Asian, Black, Latinx, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander graduates. Disparities also persisted in the employment rates in bar admission required/anticipated positions (i.e., attorney positions), although the gap narrowed for every racial group this year except for Latinx graduates. Despite this tightening, the rate of employment of Black and Indigenous graduates in bar admission required/anticipated positions continues to be particularly low. Graduates of color were also less likely to be employed in judicial clerkships as compared to their White counterparts, and employment rates within private practice continue to be lower for Black, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander grads.
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