Breaking Job News: Bad Time to Be a Grad

What if the real crisis for new grads isn’t a lack of jobs, but a hiring market that’s quietly been rewired? In today’s breaking job news, host Pete Newsome breaks down why landing that first role feels harder than ever and uncovers the structural shifts reshaping the entry-level market in 2025.

Pete dives into the data behind the headlines: recent graduate unemployment is outpacing the national average, full-time job postings are shrinking while applications per role surge, and employer confidence is dipping back toward pandemic-era lows. Layered on top of that, he uncovered a more profound mismatch: degree supply hitting all-time highs while most open roles don’t require one, creating a bottleneck around the few “degree-required” jobs that new graduates target.

You’ll learn how layoffs push experienced candidates into junior roles, how AI is siphoning off tasks that once trained early-career workers, and why hiring managers increasingly favor applicants who can contribute on day one. But it’s not all bad news. Pete highlights the sectors that are still hiring aggressively, including support, education, special-needs services, logistics, public service, and advanced manufacturing, and explains why these sectors remain resilient.

💬What do you think: What’s the one strategy you think will move the needle most for new grads today?

News Article:
Companies Predict 2026 Will Be the Worst College Grad Job Market in Five Years: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/2026-graduates-job-market-7928bcd7

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👋 FOLLOW PETE NEWSOME ONLINE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewsome/
Blog Articles: https://www.4cornerresources.com/blog

Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:00):
Happy Friday, everyone.
On today's episode of Corneringthe Job Market, I'm going to
focus on just one area, andthat's this.
It's a bad time to be a newcollege grad.
The Wall Street Journalreported that the class of 2026
is heading into the weakest jobmarket in five years.
I agree with them, and there'splenty of data to back that up.
There's a new employer surveythat shows the lowest confidence

(00:21):
level since the first year ofCOVID.
The unemployment rate forrecent grads hit 4.8% in June,
which is not only higher thanthe overall unemployment rate,
it's the highest that it's beenfor young professionals in more
than four years.
Full-time job postings are downmore than 16% year over year
according to Handshake, whileapplications per job are up 26%.

(00:41):
And more than 60% of 2026 gradssay they feel pessimistic about
their career prospects.
And then there are the layoffs.
You've seen the announcements.
They've been almost nonstop allyear.
Amazon, UPS, Microsoft, Dell.
And just yesterday it wasreported that Verizon is
planning to cut 15,000 jobs, andthat would be the largest

(01:01):
reduction in their entirecompany history.
And what happens with theselayoffs, you now have
experienced workers competingagainst inexperienced talent for
the same jobs, for entry-leveljobs.
New grads shouldn't have toface that, but they are right
now.
And you can't really blame thecompanies.
I mean, it makes sense thatthey want to hire people who can
hit the ground running versusthose they'd have to train from

(01:23):
scratch.
And if that's not bad enoughfrom a competition standpoint,
it is, but we now have AI addedto the mix where you see
executives being very bold intheir statements saying that
they're intentionally trying toreplace entry-level work with AI
agents.
This is happening constantlynow, too.
And there's a couple otherfactors at work here.

(01:44):
In 1992, the 25 and up laborforce was about 50-50 degreed
versus not.
It's now 69% degreed versus 31%not.
And that may not sound too bad,but when you consider that 60%
of all open jobs don't require acollege degree, it just shows
how clearly supply has outpaceddemand in that area when it

(02:08):
comes to jobs requiring acollege degree.
There just aren't that manyrelative to the supply on the
market.
And look, it's not all bad.
There's still job growth incertain areas, like healthcare,
education, manufacturing, butwe're not paying close enough
attention to that, in myopinion.
And so for parents or highschool and college counselors,

(02:30):
those who are guiding youngpeople in their educational
pursuits really need to payattention to this data and
what's happening in the marketbecause going to college now
just isn't enough.
Having a generic degree isn'tenough.
And I don't care whether it's aliberal arts or humanities
degree.
Those get lots of grief all thetime, right?
As far as their value in themarket.
But I'm talking businessdegrees too.

(02:52):
The demand just isn't there.

My two cents is this (02:54):
don't go to college without a specific
purpose.
And most importantly, gain aclear understanding up front of
what doors will be opened withyour degree or not.
And then consider whether it'sgood to invest four years of
your life in the associated costof earning that degree versus
taking a potentially differentpath, an entirely different

(03:16):
path.
And what I'm saying is collegeisn't, it shouldn't be the
answer by default that ithistorically has been.
And look, I could talk aboutthis all day.
I won't do that.

But here's the bottom line (03:26):
it is gloomy right now, and it's
not just something I live withprofessionally as a staffing
company owner.
I'm a father of four.
My youngest is 17.
He's starting college nextyear.
He's going with a purpose.
My oldest is 25.
She's a young professional inthe workplace.
And then I have two in between.
This is something I deal withevery day, professionally as

(03:49):
well as personally.
And unfortunately, there's nomagic bullet if you already are
in this situation.
You're already knee deep incollege, you are a recent grad,
but don't give up hope.
I'm not suggesting you do thatat all.
What I am saying is you'regoing to have to be more
assertive than you probablythought you would need to be.
You're going to have to becreative in your job search.
And those who are can havesuccess.

(04:11):
I truly believe that.
I see it every day.
And there's plenty of contentavailable that on that.
So if you are someone who'sstruggling and trying to figure
out how you just feel lost withyour job search, send me a
message on that.
I'll point you to some uh somegreat content on that you could
hopefully apply right away.
I'm happy to do that.
So there's the message fortoday.
It's not great if you're a newcollege grad, but again, don't

(04:35):
give up hope completely.
There are still opportunitiesout there in companies hiring.
So that's where we are today.
So before we go, here's a funfact for today.
On November 14th in 1989,flight attendants celebrated the
signing into law of a smokingban on all U.S.
domestic flights.
1989.
That's the year I graduatedfrom high school.
Doesn't seem that long ago tome, maybe to some of you, but

(04:58):
that's crazy to think that youcould still smoke on an airplane
back then.
I mean, what an offensive thingto everyone who doesn't smoke
or didn't smoke back then.
That seems so bizarre.
It's almost impossible tocomprehend that that was going
on not too long ago.
But there we are.
Glad that has changed.
Look, not everything is betterthan it used to be.
There were, they are the goodold days.

(05:19):
But that one, definitely a bigimprovement.
We don't want to go back tothat.
So thank you for listening.
Please like, subscribe, sharewith anyone who you think might
be interested.
And as always, I look forwardto your feedback.
Talk to you next week.