New college grads are entering a rough job market this year, facing challenges from weak hiring and artificial intelligence.
The U.S. economy added 115,000 non-farm payroll jobs in April. Most of the job growth was in healthcare, transportation and retail. Other industries didn't do as well: financial activities lost 11,000 jobs, and information services shed 13,000 jobs.
Job growth has been slow most of the year. The economy is adding about 68,000 jobs each month so far. That's up from 49,000 jobs per month in 2025, but down sharply from 186,000 jobs per month in 2024 and 251,000 jobs per month in 2023, when companies were restaffing post-COVID.
Federal government cutbacks are also limiting public service roles for new grads. The federal workforce is down 348,0000 jobs since October 2024.
AI is also introducing new challenges. Entry level jobs are increasingly becoming automated, with a 16% decline in relative employment for early career workers, according to a Stanford study. AI job applicants have also affected the hiring process, overwhelming job portals. By 2028, one in four job applicants won't be real anymore, according to KPMG.
The job outlook has been worse for new grads before. In June 2020, the unemployment rate was 13.4% for those who had recently graduated. It was also higher following the 2008 recession, when it reached 7.1% in May 2010. It's currently just 5.6%, though that's still higher than the 4.2% unemployment rate for the general population.
The slideshow above highlights the top places new college grads are hunting for jobs this year, according to Kickresume.
Photo credit: XY via Adobe Stock
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