Young US college graduates face employment crisis

For two years, Rebecca Atkins filed more than 250 job requests and had the impression that everyone entered a gaping abyss – the opening of the highest unemployment rate for recent university graduates in the United States for more than a decade.

“It was extremely discouraging,” said the 25 -year -old, graduated in 2022 with a law and legal diploma from a University in the American capital Washington. “I was convinced that I was a terrible and terrible person to work.”

At 5.8%, unemployment for young recent graduates from American universities is higher than it has been since November 2013, excluding 15 months in the cocovio pandemic, according to official data.

In addition, it also remained stubbornly higher than global unemployment – an extremely unusual situation, according to analysts.

And although unemployment in all of the United States has stabilized between around 3.5% and 4% post-pandemic, unemployment for recent university graduates is only trendy.

The labor market for new graduates has been weakened in a coherent manner since 2022, with a new hiring of 16% in 2025, in the year, according to the Pay company Gusto.

Analysts claim that the trend is probably the result of cyclical post -pandemic hiring slowdowns, especially in the technology sectors, finance and new cycles commercial information – and global economic uncertainty in the tumultuous beginnings of the Trump administration.

It is little consolation of the mass of young people – often struggling with huge quantities of student debt – looking for their first full -time job.

“All the jobs I wanted, I did not have the requirements – often entry -level jobs, would force you to have four or five years of experience,” said Atkins, who has rebounded between part -time roles and working in restaurants for years.

‘Extremely high uncertainty’

“It is definitely an aberrant value,” said Matthew Martin, principal American economist at Oxford Economics. “You expect the positions of white passes not as exposed to cyclical slowdowns (like other jobs).”

Job offers for professional and commercial services have decreased by more than 40% since 2021, according to research written by Martin, the technological sector jobs has been affected disproportionately.

“Part of this is a slower rate of hiring because they are the right size after having hired at very high rates in 2022, but at the same time, the volume of pure decline also indicates the impact of AI,” he told AFP, signaling the potential of artificial intelligence technology to eliminate certain entry roles.

Gregory Daco, chief economist at Ey-Parthenon, said that the slowdown in hiring in the technological sector while companies focus on the conservation of their “disproportionate” talent affects recent graduates.

The slowdown in hiring is also the result of the fact that US President Donald Trump has long -term policy fluctuations since his entry in January, Daco said.

“The experience of extremely high uncertainty with regard to trade, tax or other administration policies has led many companies to slow down or freeze their hiring.”

However, he warned the end of the conclusion that AI had already started to eliminate entry -level roles, highlighting a limited absorption of technology by most sectors.

“The reality is that many companies are still in the early stages of the adoption of these new technologies, and I think it would be a bit premature to assume that we have reached a level of use … which would have a visible macro-macro-macro.”

“Constantly works”

The United States may be the most expensive country in the world for university training, with an average cost of $ 27,673 per year for a first cycle diploma, according to official data.

In 2020, 36.3% of American undergraduate students granted federal student loans to help meet these costs in a spiral, show data, the education initiative on average debt of student loans for graduate students at $ 29,550.

Even without a student loan debt, however, the weakening of the labor market can leave certain recent graduates feeling as if they are extended.

Katie Bremer, 25, graduated from the American university with a double degree in environmental sciences and public health in 2021.

It took her over a year to find a full -time job – it is not in her field – and even then, she had to complete her income in babysitting.

“I felt like I was working constantly,” she told AFP.

“It seems overwhelming, looking at the costs, to try to make your salary all the way to cover all the steps that you are supposed to reach in adulthood.”

There is little hope on the immediate horizon, analysts warning that it will probably take some time for the labor market to resolve, with part of this adjustment by probably seeing students choose different majors.

“It is likely that this gets worse before he improves,” said Martin.

Looking at her peers, many of whom are struggling with a huge debt and had trouble finding work, Bremer says that she is worried about their long -term collective future.

“There were times when I thought” How will my generation make this work? “”

© 2025 AFP