Fountain, N.C. — The bleak job market is sending hundreds of newly minted college graduates home to Mom and Dad, where they can save money while looking for employment.

Fewer than 20 percent of graduating seniors had a job offer in hand before they left campus, compared with 26 percent a year ago and 51 percent in 2007, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

The career counselors organization also found through surveys that employers plan to hire 22 percent fewer new graduates this year than last.

"I keep getting the rejection e-mails, the letters, all that stuff, and just keep moving along," said Steven Squires, who graduated Saturday from North Carolina State University.

Squires, who earned a degree in marketing, said he plans to move into his parents' house in Cary once his apartment lease is up in July if he can't land a job by then.

"That's definitely one of the major options – back home, Mom and Dad, moving back into my old room," he said.

Yolanda Mercer, another N.C. State graduate, already has moved back to Fountain to live with her family while looking for a job.

"It's a definite adjustment. Coming from school, where you're not worried about a job – you're worried about this test or this quiz – now it's no more school, it's ... let's get focused," Mercer said.

Her mother, Brenda Mercer, said she has no problem with her daughter being back at home.

"It'll be the same as when she was in high school," Brenda Mercer said. "She knows she's welcome. As long as she needs to be here, she's welcome."