Many of this year's college grads are less than enthusiastic about the future. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

Why do most Americans go to college? Besides their insatiable thirst for knowledge, of course.

They go to college so they can get a good job and make a good living upon their graduation. They don’t go so they can get a job for which they were qualified when they graduated high school, just to make ends meet.

But many recent college grads, who some economists are calling the “Generation Limbo” of the American workforce, are doing just that as a result of the current state of the U.S. economy. Throw in the added bonus of starting with a low salary trajectory that may haunt them for the rest of their working lives and it’s hard not to see why they’re not smiling in the photo above.

These people are the “underemployed,” or the “underutilized,” in economist-speak. They find themselves in reception and behind the bar, waiting for the tides to turn. Hey, it’s better than just giving up.

But as increasingly desperate times call for increasingly desperate measures, Generation Limbo may have to come up with more creative ways to ease their financial woes. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this.