According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, “between 2000 and 2011, the wages of young college graduates [aged 21-24] dropped 5.4 percent (1.6 percent for men and 8.5 percent for women),” after they grew 19 percent between 1995 and 2000. As EPI noted, “young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of strength (e.g. 1995–2000) face much stronger wage prospects than young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of weakness (e.g. 2001 to the present).”