A college degree is often considered the ticket to a well-paying career, and more than three million new graduates enter the workforce every year banking on that promise.
However, this year, those armed with a newly minted diploma have faced one of the toughest job markets in a decade. And next year could be as bad or worse.
As the artificial intelligence boom reshapes the workforce at an unprecedented pace, some large employers have said they’re replacing workers with AI in order to streamline operations and cut costs. Concerns about the economy, persistent inflation and a slowdown in consumer spending are also likely contributors to a reduced hiring outlook, other research shows.
Employers are even less optimistic about the overall job market for upcoming graduates than they were in the last several years, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. About half, or 51%, of employers rated the job market for this year’s college seniors as poor or fair, the highest share since 2020-21.
The integration of AI has “rendered moot certain types of skills that were once good currency in the labor market, and a number of entry-level jobs are going to continue to be, at the very least, crimped,” said Joseph Fuller, a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School.
