Philly mystery: What college grad caught Romney’s ear?

Amid the jabs and jibes of the highly charged presidential debate Tuesday night, Mitt Romney kicked off a local mystery when he referenced a recent college graduate who is having trouble finding a full-time job.

Who is the young Philadelphia-area woman who, like many in her generation, is having difficulty getting into the workforce, even after earning a college degree?

Sources in the Romney campaign speculate that the unmentioned millennial generation woman may have met the candidate when he appeared for a rally at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne on Sept. 28.

During Tuesday night's debate, Romney was answering a young person's question about the plight of a generation unable to launch careers.

Romney said, "Your question is one that's being asked by college kids all over this country.

"I was in Pennsylvania with someone who had just graduated - this was in Philadelphia - and she said, "I've got my degree. I can't find a job. I've got three part-time jobs. They're just barely enough to pay for my food and pay for an apartment. I can't begin to pay back my student loans."

Romney campaign officials said they were checking to see who the mystery woman is.

Since 2010, just 54 percent of young adults ages 18 to 24 have been employed, the lowest level since 1948, when the government began keeping track, according to the Pew Research Center.

A recent survey found that only half of recent college graduates were in jobs that require a college education, according to Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

[Editor's note: If you know who she is, please contact the reporter through the phone or email information below.]