Newly graduated college students are experiencing unexpected success. Will this continue?

College graduates have experienced surprising success recently. Will it endure?

An alternative version of this story initially surfaced in CNN Business' Before the Bell newsletter. Though you can sign up to receive that newsletter yourself, you can also access the audio version by clicking that same link.

The current economic landscape hasn't been easy for those who graduated college around 2020 (although it's rapidly improving). Study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reveals recent college graduates' progress in the job market is more impressive than any recovery since the onset of the Great Recession.

Graduates between the ages of 21-24 have seen their unemployment rate recover at a pace three times higher than the aftermath of the Great Recession. Additionally, they've rebounded faster in terms of finding good jobs. Their underemployment rate has completely recovered within two years of the pandemic. Furthermore, these young grads have seen positive wage growth earlier in the recovery period compared to the previous decades. Thanks to an "aggressive fiscal policy response to the pandemic's economic shock," the labor market for recent college graduates is stronger now than pre-pandemic.

However, those graduating around the 2008-2009 recession are still struggling to recover fully from constant underemployment. As a result of the Great Recession, millennials struggled with low earnings, postponing homeownership, marriage, and childraising.

But there's hope for Gen Z as their labor market recovers faster than it did for previous generations. However, it's crucial to note that racial and gender wage gaps continue to persist amongst recent graduates. Women make $5.30 less per hour than their male peers, while Black and Hispanic workers are paid $3.24 and $2.07 less hourly than their white counterparts, respectively. Also, Gen Z incurs more debt at a younger age than millennials did.

GameStop and AMC Rockets Higher as Meme Trader Resumes Posting

The return of the meme stock trader who sparked the meme stock craze in 2021 sent GameStop and AMC soaring yesterday. This surge had nothing to do with the companies' fundamentals; it was all about the comeback of "Roaring Kitty" aka Keith Gill.

After remaining dormant for a whopping 3 years, Gill's account shared a meme on X which triggered an outburst on Monday. GameStop shares rose unbelievably by 74% while shares of AMC shot up 78%. Reddit shares climbed around 9%. Among the trading platforms, Robinhood rose 4%.

As investors scrambled for GameStop shares, the platform denied allegations that it had suspended stock purchases, stating that it was merely a result of high-volume trading and temporary exchange trading limitations.

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The meme shared by Gill features a man with a video game controller in hand. Shein had already used this cartoon but replaced the arrow and chair with blue colors. Gill's rendition, however, had red elements. This meme with Roaring Kitty's return is being interpreted as a serious sign with the tagline "when things get serious."

GameStop faced multiple trading interruptions as they tripped circuit breakers, causing trading halts to cool things off. Robinhood, the platform alleged to have previously limited GameStop stock purchases, confirmed in a statement that they had not done so, attributing the halts to market-wide issues.

LinkedIn released a study alleging a 5.9% year-over-year drop in hiring projections for the class of 2024, casting doubts on Gen Z's continued good fortunes.

Shein's Promise to Reduce Overtime Hours Found Wanting in New Report

Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion company, has promised to address excessive working hours in their supply chain since last year. However, a recent report suggests they're still facing the same problem.

Chinese workers in the Shein supply chain allegedly work an average of 75 hours a week, states a new report. This is unchanged from the situation a year ago when the company pledged to reduce overwork hours. While the company had pointed to progress, the new research shows Shein's practices haven't improved much.

Shein pledged to halve the average working week to 60 hours last year. They're facing increased pressure from the public due to notorious working conditions at their factories, often linked to unpaid overtime, but their efforts to mitigate these issues seem to be in vain.

Employees at certain facilities that manufacture clothing for Shein apparently continue to labor for 75-hour workweeks, according to an examination by Public Eye, a Swiss human rights organization that uncovered this issue nearly two years ago.

"The 75-hour weeks we discovered back in 2021 appear to be commonplace at Shein," Public Eye stated.

Last year, the Swiss organization talked to 13 textile laborers at six factories in Guangzhou, a region in south China. They found that workers typically put in a 12-hour workday, excluding lunch and supper hours, and often labored for six or seven days in a row.

To protect their anonymity, Shein does not disclose the identities of their suppliers, Public Eye noted in their report. The organization was able to identify the factories as Shein's suppliers through their conversations with the employees and the presence of Shein items at the facilities.

In a response to CNN, Shein claimed, "We do not recognize many of the allegations in (Public Eye's) report."

"The Public Eye report is based on a sample of 13 interviewees, although every voice in our supply chain is significant. This limited sample should be viewed in the context of our continuous efforts to improve our supply chain, which encompasses engagement with thousands of suppliers and workers within the supply chain," the statement continued.

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