Why Is the US Job Market So Tough, Especially for Recent College Grads? (msn.com)
- Reference: 0183232707
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/05/16/0451234/why-is-the-us-job-market-so-tough-especially-for-recent-college-grads
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-the-us-job-market-is-so-hard-especially-for-recent-college-graduates/ar-AA234xML
Part of the problem? "Of the net 369,000 positions added across the entire economy since the start of 2025, health care alone accounted for nearly 800,000 — meaning every other sector, taken together, shed jobs." By the end of 2025 nearly half of college graduates ages 22 to 27 were working at jobs that didn't require a degree, according to stats from New York's Federal Reserve Bank.
> The headline unemployment rate, at 4.2%, looks healthy. But that figure has been buoyed by a shrinking labor force: Fewer people are actively looking for work, which keeps the rate down even as hiring slows...
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> [Some large tech companies] are trying to recalibrate after their hiring sprees of 2021 and 2022, when many had raised pay, offered flexible schedules and signed people quickly... Higher interest rates have also made expansion more expensive, pushing many firms to invest in technology rather than headcount. Another reason hiring has slowed is uncertainty about AI. Even though the technology has not yet replaced large numbers of workers, it is already [2]shaping how companies think about hiring . "I don't think this is AI displacement," said Ben Zweig, chief executive of Revelio Labs, a workforce data company. "What we're seeing is anticipatory." Instead of rushing to bring on new workers, some firms are waiting to see how the technology evolves and which tasks it will eventually take over.
A 39-year-old web developer tells the Post it took 453 job applications to get a handful of interviews and two offers. And a journalism school graduate said they'd sent hundreds of job applications but most led nowhere, and they're now couch-surfing to save money.
But the problem seems even worse for young people. One 18-year-old told the Post that in a year and a half of job searching, they'd yet to even meet an employer in person.
> The unemployment rate for people ages 22 to 27 who recently completed college hit 5.6% in the final months of 2025 — well above the 4.2% rate for all workers, according to national data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York... At one point last summer, new workforce entrants made up a larger share of the unemployed than at any point since the late 1980s — higher even than during the Great Recession. When hiring slows, the door closes first on those without an existing foothold. For the class of 2026, the timing could hardly be worse.
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> "It is getting increasingly clear that young people are being more affected by AI than older workers," Zweig said. Companies are not eliminating jobs at scale, but many are slow to hire junior workers. At the same time, older workers are staying in the labor force longer, leaving fewer openings for new arrivals. Even when jobs are available, the bar has shifted. Positions once considered entry level now often require several years of experience, technical expertise and familiarity with AI tools. With fewer openings and more applicants, companies are holding out for candidates who can do the job immediately and need little training... Employers are also looking for a different mix of skills. An analysis of millions of job postings by Indeed found that communication skills now appear in nearly 42% of all listings, while leadership skills feature in nearly a third — capabilities that are harder to prove on a résumé and harder still to demonstrate without an existing professional network. Christine Beck, a career coach who works with early-career job seekers, said employers are asking more of the people they do hire.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-the-us-job-market-is-so-hard-especially-for-recent-college-graduates/ar-AA234xML
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2026/jobs-most-affected-ai-automation/
It's Easy (Score:3)
The "growth" is about the jobs being held are low-wage low-class jobs, combined with Wall Street showing record profits in part because of that and in part because of offshoring. Meanwhile, middle class jobs are hard to come by.
Re: (Score:2)
The Gulf War 3.0 is causing gas and diesel to reach record highs. If you thought pandemic era price increases were bad just wait.
Re: (Score:2)
Iran thinks they have the upper hand because their government had redundancy built into it and survived. We think we have the upper hand because we killed much of the senior leadership, but naively thought the Iranian people would rise up and take over the government. Notably, we didn't kill the president of Iran and we could have. Iran has a functioning republic, but it sits underneath the clerics who are dictators. The only things that are likely going to end it is an invasion by the US, the arming of the
Kids these days? (Score:3)
Talked with an old colleague. The company I worked 5 years ago is situated in the semiconductor industry. They are constantly growing. They need new staff all the time. The work is demanding, designing semiconductor circuits is a tough on math and pretty stressful as no mistakes are tolerated. The employer is relatively reasonable about it though.
Desperate for fresh blood, they actively search for new employees. Last year, they apparently invited dozens of fresh graduates. None were remotely qualified. When I did the interview more than a decade ago, the questions they asked were ok. Basic transistor level stuff, show an analog circuit what does it do, calculate a few basic metrics, ...
They decided to open small offices around the EU in the hope to catch employees with a good basic electronics foundation.
This is just one story, but it matches the situation described above... Can't blame the kids though. In my days, the world was a lot smaller and more boring.
Re:Kids these days? (Score:4, Insightful)
I have seen something similar doing interviews to hire new software developers before and during the pandemic. Some of the applicants had very high GPA but still couldn't solve relatively simple problems. They could answer questions about coding and algorithms make easy modifications to existing code, and they could even write new code so long as it was at "script kiddy" level of difficulty. But they couldn't think through a novel problem (even problems that don't require specialized API knowledge or advanced math or anything like that).
My belief is that, at that time, software engineering was being billed out as a lucrative career and there was a lot of "push" from the industry to get more kids interested. So colleges dumbed down the curriculum and just lowered the bar all-around, to scoop up all that student loan money. And the result was a whole generation of debt-ridden young adults with degrees but no skills.
If the situation is still like that, I can see why nobody wants to hire these kids. I wouldn't know, since my employer hasn't hired anyone since the pandemic either. And with the possibility that the existing team can use AI to be just as effective without hiring those kids, nobody wants to do it. Not, at least, until something forces their hand.
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(Posting as AC for obvious reasons.)
I work in a state school and this is exactly what happened. I started to see it about 10 years ago. The world was in a "we need all the software engineer we can get" vibe. Almost everyone going this route would be making $100k or more a year. The university were not able to train enough people that bootcamps were rising teaching someone a little bit of webdev and they were getting jobs.
The universities in the US being essentially paid per student graduated (as opposed to
Re: (Score:1)
What does this semiconductor designer job pay?
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Analog circuitry beyond an RLC loop? Actual individual transistor understanding?
Nowadays, about the only people who learn that stuff consistently are physicists. With a few exceptions, even most EEs are 99% digital now. Whatever analog most EEs learn in their single advanced analog class is quickly forgotten and swamped by the digital stuff.
Also, are you absolutely sure that your view of the industry is correct? In my experience, most of the time, when a business says “we can’t find qual
MBAs are just devoid of ideas (Score:3)
"Turning a big dial that says "cut labor" and looking back at the audience of shareholders for approval"
Nobody wants to work in the field... (Score:5, Interesting)
It is fairly obvious. Everyone got ran out of the tech field who wasn't a senior tier, had close ties with management, or both. Not many people want to go into STEM in the US, because they know that they go and do the work, do the hard math courses, only to be muscled out of any chance at a job come graduation by cheap foreign labor. Not just our usual dear H1Bs, but B1s and numerous visas.
College, in every other nation, is something the government pays for. The classmate I had from Chile? Government paid his way. Germany? Free courtesy of the Fatherland. China? Paid for. It is only Americans who have to mortgage their entire future to even have a chance at competing... and the US is the only country in the world that has student loans non-dischargable, and stay for life.
Then there are job guarantees. The guy from China I went to class with is a chief engineer now. The German guy? Doing interesting stuff in physics. The French guy? He does film effects because France values their local culture. The Chile guy? Chemical engineer. For me, when I graduated, were it not for word of mouth and previous people I worked with, I'd have a choice between no job, or maybe enlist in the armed services, as the degree would give 1-2 ranks.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Chinese university isn't free. And they have 20% youth unemployment...
The cited NY Fed numbers tell a different story (Score:3)
> By the end of 2025 nearly half of college graduates ages 22 to 27 were working at jobs that didn't require a degree, according to stats from New York's Federal Reserve Bank
Here's a link to the NY Fed statistics on underemployment for recent college grads: [1]https://www.newyorkfed.org/res... [newyorkfed.org]
What the chart actually shows is that "nearly half" actually means 41.5% . OK, kind of close to half, I guess.
BUT what's even more striking, looking at their numbers, is that this number is lower than peaks in 2012 ( 47.4% ) and 1992 ( 48.3% ).
In the last three years, there has been a small increase in this number, but certainly not dramatic, in the context of the last 40-ish years shown by the statistics.
So are recent college graduates really struggling more than usual, to find jobs related to their major? The numbers don't seem to say so.
[1] https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:explore:underemployment
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I can't speak for the official numbers, but in 2016 I had a job in IT after one interview at the third place I applied, I was still in college.
Now it's 2026, after thousands of job applications and three interviews, I'm working landscaping.
Not complaining though, working outdoors is pretty nice.
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I don't doubt you. Note that I did not say it's *easy* to get the job you want. Just that it's not, statistically speaking, harder than it's been in the last 40 years.
I'm 59, way past the so-called tech age ceiling of 40. The market is pretty tough right now, but it probably depends on where you are. In Texas, I've applied to 150 or so jobs, and have landed interviews with three companies. That doesn't seem too unreasonable to me. I'm still employed in software development, making very decent money.
So yes,
Couch-surfing (Score:3)
Maybe figure out what industry you'd like to work in. And then apply for a job there. Even if it's a shit job, they'll see your work ethic and if you're honest about using the entry job as a stepping stone, they'll help you move up.
A bit different situation: When I graduated with an EE degree, I went into the utility business. One outfit had a probationary/training program where they would run engineering candidates through "shit jobs". They put me on a line crew for a while (no energized work). Sure. Give me the end of the cable and I'll drag ith through the ditch. At the end of the probation period, one of the foremen that I worked for commented that I was one of the few engineers willing to do that work. Most sat in their cars, reading the paper (now I'm surre that would be pecking on a phone). I was a shoo-in for practically any opening that came around.
Oh, and I learned to climb. Trees, not poles. I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. Being a lumberjack with 50,000 volts is work for other people.
My reply to Washington Post (Score:1)
partly an unintended side effect of things like DEI, which disassociate money from production (ie JOBS) and associates money to social status like skin color, etc.
surprise!
the fix is redistribution of work over a broader section of the population. but none of y'all seem able to do the math.
[1]https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/2... [scry.llc]
equilibrium is the goal.
[2]https://www.scry.llc/2025/01/2... [scry.llc]
[1] https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/27/work-week/
[2] https://www.scry.llc/2025/01/27/equilibrium/
"affected by AI" (Score:2)
"It is getting increasingly clear that young people are being more affected by AI than older workers..."
While it is true that young people are disproportionately affected, it is not at all certain that AI is the root of this problem.
Other than a half-dozen tech-behemoth companies, the entire economy is in decline.
AI is the excuse that executives like to give when they lay people off, but there's always an excuse, and the excuse is rarely a reflection of reality.
Cooking the books (Score:2, Funny)
Almost like firing the people who report important statistics gives odd effects.
Deeper issue is global phase change in work/tech (Score:2)
As with my sig: "The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity."
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Of course, there is a more local-to-the-USA part of the jobs story too (even as it is not as big a global issue as the one in my sig):
"Americans Don't Realize The Empire Is Already Falling Apart"
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
"Spain. Britain. The Soviet Union. Three of history's most powerful empires all destroyed by the same 7-stage pattern. Military overextension. Currency debasement. Debt spiral. Loss of productive capacity. Social decay. Reserve currency collapse. Sudden f
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5GF35ruB9I