The job market slowdown is hitting recent college grads hard

Students wait in line before a career fair starts at the School of Pooclyn in New York Brooklyn.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Christina Salvadore, with a few internships under the Georgetown degree and belt, thought that New York would start a career in fashion or beauty industries. Problem: He can’t find a job.
The 23 -year -old did not take a full -time role, although he fills hundreds of applications and received dozens of networks after graduating in spring. He is currently applying for part -time concerts to tide him financially.
Salvadore, a native of Florida, told CNBC, “People, ‘So what are you doing now?’ ‘When I say, “I’m sitting at my family’s house 24 hours a day.”
A growing data group shows that Salvadore is not alone. Young university graduates have a unique difficult time to scan their first full -time work and to feel the burden of the weakened labor market.
At the macro level, the difficult chance of this group moves the needle in wider data clusters used by economists and monetary policy makers to determine the health of the economy. For hundreds of thousands of Americans in this camp, it changes their visions because they think about how this life period will look.
Federal data has reached a nine -year summit for “new entries”, a group that includes new college graduates and others trying to enter full -time labor force. The share of the total unemployed population of the group Highest percent During decades.
Simply put: Burning Glass Institute Chief Economist Gad Levanon and his team of labor -oriented thinking organization has become the US “no country for young graduates”.
A ‘Unusual’ trend
One report Levanon and his team, published this summer, found that their undergraduate degree did not deliver the “basic promise” access to white -collar jobs for the first time in modern history. The team, which once caused the air from the university campus to career, is increasingly reliable.
Levanon made more analysis of federal data after receiving questions about whether the tendency affected all young workers or only university diplomas. It shows that those with a bachelor’s degree see the most extreme unemployment levels compared to other educational groups compared to other educational groups.
To be sure, the licenseers in this age group have only benefited from a lower unemployment rate compared to high school diplomas. However, Levanon’s data show that the gap between the two groups is the smallest since the beginning of the 2000s.
“You see something unusual here for the degree of undergraduate,” Levanon told CNBC.
Tiktok on the popular social media platform, newly released young adults from the university, after the first graduation of their jobs to find a kind of subspecies and problems. Them Document the journey And Dismissal they feel. Them Home transport with parents. They question why the entry -level job advertisements require Several years experience. They wonder if companies need to do “Ghost” themSo they never get a response to an application.
He used a few slang expressions “It collapses” To define how they progress emotionally.
Orum I feel that I am behind now, dedi Michael Hartman, a Boston College graduate recently He sought insight from a psychic About the career orbit after about 10 -month unsuccessful business hunting. Hartman has an economic degree and is looking for a consultancy or business strategy role.
‘Very stressful’
For America’s newest college graduates, this return return attracted the attention of the best economic policy makers and comes in the midst of concerns about the labor market.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell accepted A few weeks ago, young people had a “more difficult time to lock things. He drew attention to the “low -fire, low -recruitment environment”, a landscape of economists.
According to government data published on Tuesday, the number of workers hired and left in August slowed down. The figures from the Bureau of Statistics published in September show the volume of the unemployed people for at least 27 weeks. balloon A seasonally adjusted basis is approximately 25% from year to year.
Burning Glass’ Levanon said the problem was partly from the rising share of four -year young Americans. He said that the demand for workers with this level of education did not continue, that is, the current conditions may not heal soon.
Levanon, this may cause a stroke of a university record, as they realize that higher learning was not a career pipeline once.
A student graduated from New York City College is wearing a message on his hat during the start ceremony of the college in Manhattan’s Harlem section.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Beyond that, the rise of artificial intelligence, entry level, information worker roles will be automated.
In August, Stanford issued a bomb work that found workers between the ages of 22 and 25 in the most exposed work to AI. Walmart with Emphasis He said technology will greatly reshape labor force.
Tightening in the labor market has made the whole generation more concern about what the future will do. According to Michigan University data, the probability of loss of work between the ages of 18-34 in May in May was jumped to the highest levels in 2013.
These concerns have changed the appearance of new and soon university graduates. After seeing that friends are struggling to secure employment, Emma Zatkulak started to start applications a few weeks ago as they predicted. The 21 -year -old plans negotiations for sales and insurance roles between full class load and two jobs.
“It was very stressful, dedi Zatkulak, who was a communication expert at Boise State University in Idaho, said. “I didn’t feel calm in a few months.”
‘A real phenomenon’
However, all new graduates may not feel the same change.
Indeed, in the Business Board, software development business lists are about 66% of the volume seen before Covid pandemia. On the other hand, nursing position announcements increase approximately 16% compared to the same base line.
“This is a real phenomenon, dedi he said, Laura Ullrich, the North American Economic Research Director. “But at the same time I don’t think it applies to all students or all young people. It depends on which sector they work for.”
Nevertheless, Ullrich admitted that it was a reason for young adults’ anxiety. He pointed out that Moody’s analytics showed that the less monitored industry has added more work than it has been removed for the last six months, which took place historically only and around it. recession.
In the technology industry, the decrease in recruitment of the entry level is particularly clear. The percentage of recruitment with less work experience immersed According to the entrance capital company Signalfire, between 2019 and 2024, more than 50% of large -lid technology companies. In startups, this rate fell more than 47%.
Young job seekers told CNBC that the difficulty of finding a job felt doubtful of social isolation and self. As they refused, they said it would be difficult to not buy personally.
In recent months, Julia Vasedkova has watched Tennessee’s new life as young professionals. In the meantime, although Vasedkova sends hundreds of applications, it is only a “limbo” that defines itself only with a part -time work. British Major applied for teaching, publishing and social media positions.
The 24 -year -old finds that he has turned invitations for social meetings to save money for rent and other expenses. Also, it is time to spend the time to try to find the job after graduation.
“Absolutely tiring. Some days seem to have a full -time job to resort to jobs.” He said. “I just seem to have a life other than that.”




