College graduates are slowly losing their employment advantage.
Last week’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment for workers with a bachelor’s degree increased to 2.8 percent in September, up a half point from last year.
Now, one in four unemployed Americans has a degree — a threshold the US hadn’t touched in data going back to 1992.
Other education levels didn’t see any increase in last month’s data.
It’s the clearest sign yet that the white-collar job market has downshifted amid a surge of layoffs at corporate headquarters and tech firms.
And, to many recent grads, it’s a gutting reality check. Shiny tech roles at billion-dollar companies, once sold as tickets to six-figure paychecks, are becoming harder to get.
More than 1.9 million degree-holding Americans aged 25 and older received an unemployment check in September, the report showed.
Recent grads aren’t finding success on the job market, either, with their unemployment rate bouncing to 4.8 percent in the Federal Bank of New York’s latest reading.
College graduates, motivated through classes by higher-earning jobs, are seeing their unemployment rate spike
‘For the new graduates from college, they did get hit by a bit of a perfect storm,’ John Williams, the bank’s president, said, according to Bloomberg.
‘Normally, college graduates are swept into the labor market as they get out of college. That has not happened as much this year.’
Unemployed college grads are added to America’s spiking jobless rate, which ticked up from 4.3 percent to 4.4 percent in latest figures from October.
Overall, younger job seekers are carrying the highest burden, with the unemployment rate for Americans aged 22 to 27 jumping to 7.4 percent.
Independent analysts are starting to blame Artificial Intelligence for the wave of job losses.
Rising joblessness among highly educated workers ‘should further fuel AI-related job loss fears,’ JPMorgan chief US economist Michael Feroli warned last Thursday.
There are plenty of companies that have launched a wave of low- and middle-tier white-collar layoffs while simultaneously introducing internal AI tools.
Amazon has been the most vocal, with its head of HR directly pointing her finger at AI as the company slashed 14,000 positions.
In September, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent, an increase that has worried independent analysts
‘Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,’ Beth Galetti, an HR lead at Amazon, wrote in a public note.
‘What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.’
But the tech giant is not alone.
Apple cut workers on Monday, UPS has cut 34,000 this year, Target slashed 1,800 corporate workers from its headcount in October, and Starbucks axed 900 in late September.
Verizon, ConocoPhillips, Intel, Microsoft, Walmart, General Motors, Ford, Pepsi, and Novo Nordisk have also contributed to a record number of layoffs.
Beneath the headline numbers, the job market is increasingly lopsided.
Just two sectors — health care and hospitality — have generated more than 100 percent of US job growth this year, adding a combined 690,000 positions.
Strip those out, and total employment is actually down by roughly 6,000 jobs in 2025 after years of robust growth following the 2020 pandemic.
