9.6%: Decline from 2000 to 2010 in inflation-adjusted median earnings of people 25 to 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree and no graduate degree.

Few people have gone unscathed by the bad economy, but the way it has damaged the prospects of America’s young college graduates may be one of its most lasting legacies. The high unemployment they are now experiencing will leave many of them a step behind throughout their careers. Research by Yale School of Management economist Lisa Kahn found that workers who graduated from college during the deep recession in the early 1980s were still worse off than workers who graduated in better times in 2006.

When young college graduates do land a job, it often won’t pay well. According to the Census Bureau, the median annual earnings of a worker 25 to 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree (but no graduate degree) was $40,875 last year. That compares with $45,200 in 2000, adjusting for inflation.

Older college-educated workers also saw their earnings fall, but not by nearly as much. Numbers like these help explain the fervor of the young Occupy Wall Street protesters, who have come to believe the American dream is passing them by.