HONOLULU -- Young people about to graduate from college face a tough job market. There was a job fair at University of Hawaii Manoa Tuesday.

There was a good turn out for the career fair at the UH Campus Center. Hopeful students came to see what's out there for them when they graduate.

There were a lot of government job displays, the border patrol, military recruiters. The CIA had a booth, but the clandestine recruiters did not want to be photographed. They were recruiting analysts and spies.

The Census Bureau seemed to have the most jobs to offer.

"Nationwide, we hire 300,000 upwards 500,000 people when the census 2010 rolls around so a lot of positions," said Mat Tanigawa, with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Unfortunately, those are mostly temporary positions.

Students express a fear that all they invested in getting a degree might not pay off.

"They might work so hard just to do all that study, all those study hours they put in and later on their degree wouldn't be beneficial in the long run because they wouldn't be able to get jobs later on," soon-to-be-graduate Aaron Payomo said.

However, recruiters said anyone with a college degree will have a better chance of landing a good job. Those who will soon get their degrees said they hope so.

"But despite all the gloomy economic news we found many of the young people here to be surprisingly upbeat," Payomo said.

"I'm not going to worry because I can live with my parents until … couple more years, get like a side job," UH student Jessica Ting said.

In this economy, many students are learning the hard truth that just about any job may be a good job.