U.S. News

American college graduates are facing the worst entry-level job market since the pandemic, with the underemployment rate reaching 42.5% – its highest level since 2020.

Several young graduates told the Guardian about their struggles navigating a job market shaped by tightening opportunities, the rise of AI and shifting employer expectations.

Gillian Frost, a 22-year-old student at Smith College in Massachusetts, has been searching for work since last September. Majoring in quantitative economics with a minor in government and set to graduate in May, she described a grueling and often discouraging process.

“Every weekend, I dedicate over two hours to job applications. As of today, I’ve applied to over 90 jobs. I’ve been ghosted by nearly 25% of them and rejected automatically from around 55%,” she said.

Despite securing some interviews, Frost said the lack of communication from employers had been particularly frustrating.

She said: “I’ve gotten around 10 interviews but many of them don’t even bother to tell you you’re not a good fit … I feel helpless. No one seems to know how best to prepare due to the unique conflux of events occurring. How do you prepare for a tight labor market coinciding with the emergence of AI and direct US involvement in war? Most generations have dealt with maybe one of these but our generation is the first to deal with all three.”

They may not be finding jobs, but at least they're saddled with debt, which is nakedly now the whole point.