The Class of 2025 is stepping into the bleakest hiring landscape for new grads since the early days of the pandemic.
On paper, the economy looks fine — unemployment is holding steady at 4.2%, and the job market has added roles for 52 months straight. But if you’re young and recently degreed, those numbers don’t mean much.
According to Oxford Economics, unemployment for recent grads (ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher) is now higher than the national average — something that hasn’t happened in more than four decades. Young men are getting hit the hardest, with a 9.6% unemployment rate, up nearly 3 percentage points from last year.
Hiring for entry-level positions has dropped 23% since March 2020. That’s a bigger dip than overall hiring, which is down 18% over the same period. And thanks to a murky economy, cautious employers, and rising interest rates, companies aren’t in a rush to change that. It’s what some economists are calling a “no hire, no fire” job market — and for new grads, it feels like a locked door.
Then there’s AI. And it’s not just about robots writing emails. Dario Amodei, CEO of AI company Anthropic, says the tech could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next few years.
“We have to act now,” Amodei told CNN. “We can’t just sleepwalk into it.”
Some sectors are already seeing the fallout. Employment in math and computer science jobs — two areas particularly vulnerable to AI disruption — has dropped 8% for recent grads since 2022. For older workers, that number hasn’t moved much at all.
So what now?
There’s still long-term value in a degree — grads with one are still less likely to be unemployed than those without. But that gap is shrinking. And with student debt piling up and the job hunt dragging on for months, the wait is starting to feel less like a detour and more like a dead end.
In the meantime, some are getting creative. If traditional career paths are stalled, this might be the right time to start a side hustle — or at least figure out what skills you can sharpen while the market catches up.
