New data reveals a significant shift in the American employment landscape, with university-educated workers now comprising an unprecedented portion of the nation's unemployed population.
Unprecedented Numbers for Educated Workers
Recent labour statistics show that Americans with four-year college degrees now make up a record 25% of total unemployment. This milestone, unprecedented in data going back to 1992, highlights a dramatic slowdown in white-collar hiring throughout 2025.
The delayed monthly figures from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, published Thursday, revealed that the unemployment rate for bachelor's degree-holders reached 2.8% in September, marking a half-percentage point increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, workers with other levels of education experienced little or no increase in joblessness during the same period.
Young Workers Face Disproportionate Impact
The data paints a particularly concerning picture for recent graduates and younger workers. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams commented on Friday that new college graduates faced a perfect storm in the current job market.
Thursday's BLS figures confirmed that young Americans are bearing the brunt of rising joblessness. The unemployment rate for those aged 20 to 24 jumped to 9.2% in September, representing a substantial 2.2 percentage point increase from the previous year. Historically, increases of this magnitude rarely occur outside of recession periods.
In contrast, unemployment rates for older Americans remain below 4% and have seen only modest increases in recent months.
Corporate Layoffs and AI Concerns
This employment milestone coincides with numerous high-profile layoff announcements from major corporations including Amazon.com, Target Corp., and Starbucks Corp. The situation intensified when Verizon Communications Inc. announced Thursday it would eliminate more than 13,000 positions, reducing its non-union workforce by up to 20%.
A recent report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas indicated that job-cut announcements in October reached their highest level in over twenty years, with many companies citing plans to replace positions with artificial intelligence.
Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., noted that rising unemployment among college graduates should further fuel AI-related job loss fears in a research note following the data release.
The employment report also revealed concerning sector-specific trends. Only two industries—health care and social assistance, and leisure and hospitality—have driven U.S. job growth in 2025, adding a combined 690,000 positions. Excluding these sectors, national employment has actually declined by approximately 6,000 jobs this year.
Meanwhile, the professional and technical services sector—which includes computer systems design, management consulting, and scientific research—registered an outright decline in employment during the first nine months of 2025.
