A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims employers added 271,000 new jobs in October 2015 around the United States.

Steady Increase

At Biola, employment has steadily increased. In 2005, 572 staff and 178 full-time faculty were employed and currently, 808 staff and 262 full-time faculty are employed.

The percentages of those unemployed have decreased 0.8 percent or 1.1 million percent from the beginning of the year. As of November 2015, five percent equates to 7.9 million unemployed.

Creating Work

Ron Mooradian, senior director of human resources, notes students create work in universities. However, Biola does not focus on only creating work arbitrarily but focuses on providing employment opportunities back to students.

“I think in a sense, students create jobs more than [Biola does] because our growth in jobs will depend on the student population. The more students we have to serve, the more jobs that are created,” Mooradian said. “We don’t go into it with the intent to create jobs, we go into it with the intent of making sure we’re serving students well.”

Growth Necessities

With the long term enrollment growth at Biola, more staff and faculty are necessary to cater to the needs of students. These are always changing and thus, new hires are always required to continue to meet students’ desires. Mooradian has worked at Biola for over 20 years and agrees student needs change over the years.

“Obviously as the student populations grows significantly, it takes more people to meet those needs. As the needs of the students change, then the nature of jobs can also change,” Mooradian said. “The needs of students today are so much different from 20 years ago.”

Still Recovering

The Great Recession that occurred from December 2007 to June 2009 caused 8.4 million people to lose their jobs ― and the economy is still recovering. Ashley Evaro, senior political science major was not affected by the recession, but knows of individuals affected by it and only through continuing to search did they find work once more.

“I did know people who lost their jobs,” Evaro said. “What usually happens in an economy like ours is that when business grows, more jobs are created and so, you can see the growth of businesses is the largest contributor to creating more jobs and decreasing unemployment.”

Resources

For students who find it difficult to find work during and after their time at Biola, there are resources to assist students in their search for work.

“In the music department, we have someone who’s in charge of the internships so we get whatever we want to do and we can find [an employer] and ask them to look up if they are accepting internships,” said Mary Fristensky, freshman music and worship major.