In 2016, 73% of the graduating class found full-time long-term positions, up from 70% of the previous year’s class. However, a nearly 7% decrease in graduates contributed to the bump in relative employment, according to information from the ABA. The number of actual full-time, long-term Bar Passage Required or J.D. Advantage jobs decreased 4% from 28,029 to 26,923 from 2015 to 2016.

The total number of law school graduates has been trending downward in recent years; in 2012 there were more than 46,000 graduates reported by the ABA. Last year, there were a little more than 37,000.

The newly minted statistics measure employment data of graduates approximately 10 months after finishing programs from 204 ABA sanctioned law schools. From 2015 to 2016, the number of graduates measured in each class who are unemployed or seeking work dipped to 3,271 from 3,871, according to information from the ABA.

Also, a larger slice of the 2016 graduating class found work in law firms, with approximately 44% of the 2016 class working at companies with two to 500 or more employees compared to 40% of the 2015 class.

There was a slight dip in the relative percentage of the graduating class working alone as a solo practitioner, though. Further, exactly 1.6% of both the 2015 and 2016 classes took work in education, according to information from the ABA.  

“The data show that the job market has stabilized and continues to be challenging for law graduates,” said Barry Currier, managing director of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and its accreditation committee has 14,000 members tasked to “improve legal education and lawyer licensing by fostering cooperation among legal educators, practitioners and judges through workshops, conferences and publications,” among other tasks.  

The data provides a useful glimpse into the job market, Currier said, but must be taken in context. “It is important to remember these outcomes represent a snapshot taken about 10 months after graduation. Graduates will continue to find employment after that date and change jobs as they settle into their legal careers,” he said. “While these early reports are an important part of the story for the class of 2016, they certainly are not the full story.”  

Broadly, the “legal services” industry has grown over a 12-month period from April 2016 to April 2017. According to separate data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 1,114,500 jobs in the legal services industry in April 2016, not seasonally adjusted, compared to 1,120,200 jobs last month--a 5,700 job increase.

In the last year, the unemployment rate across all jobs has dipped 0.6 percentage points and the number of those “unemployed” has dropped 854,000.