Adding to this existential turmoil, recent graduates in some sectors are earning less than previous cohorts if they can even find a job at all. What’s more, new data shows nearly half of those lucky enough to be gainfully employed after years of higher education are working gigs that don’t even require their (or any) degree.
A tidal wave of unemployment and underemployment among recent grads
The survey, which comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, outlines how 22-to 27-year-olds who are fresh out of university are facing their own recession, with 5.6% unemployed as of March 2026 (compared to 4.3% nationally). This is worse than how the same demographic fared during both the early 1990s recession and the dot-com financial crisis.
What’s even more concerning is the staggering 41.5% of this group that are now considered “underemployed,” or working jobs that don’t necessitate at least a bachelor’s diploma.
It’s not all that surprising given that entry-level jobs are proving to be the most targeted in tech-related cuts, with one survey indicating that 43% of CEOs intend to slash a swath of junior positions within two years — a significant increase from the 17% who said the same last year, when young professionals were already facing a “noticeably deteriorated” labor market.
An Oxford Economics study from that year, titled Educated But Unemployed: A Rising Reality For College Grads, blamed a glut of students in the now precarious computer-science sector alongside slowing rates of hiring in that area — just one example of a broader “mismatch between an oversupply of recent graduates in fields where business demand has waned,” especially in professional, scientific and technical services.
The same research found 85% of the post-2023 rise in the unemployment rate overall is concentrated in “new market entrants who can’t find work,” especially those who hold a bachelor’s or higher (versus those of the same age with less education). This latter point is a reverse of the usual trend of employment rates remaining most stable among more educated groups, especially during economic slumps.
Some experts point to the concept of “elite overproduction,” or the nation’s propensity to churn out educated work-ready citizens as career opportunities remain flat or decline.
