In sharp contrast with the national unemployment rate, the legal industry has suffered its largest one-month drop in jobs in two years in June 2013, the second month in a row it has experienced negative numbers.
Initial reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the legal sector lost 3,600 jobs in June, the most sizable loss for the profession since June 2011 saw 3,300 jobs lost, according to the Daily Report.
Original estimates put losses in May to only 500, but revised numbers have placed the sector at a loss of 2,900 jobs instead, which analysts consider a worrying fall. These numbers come after March and April brought combined gains of nearly 4,000 legal jobs.
Things don’t look much better for law students nationwide, as the unemployment rate for 2012 law school graduates sits at 12.8 percent, according to MLive. The average in some states is even worse, as almost 18 percent of Michigan law school graduates from that year remain unemployed.
Small firm hiring is where many recent graduates are likely to find jobs, excepting students from the University of Michigan who were likely to be hired at firms with more than 100 employees.