AI and Economic Turmoil Leave Recent Graduates Struggling to Find Work

As debates intensify over AI’s real-world impact on employment, one undeniable truth emerges: recent college graduates are entering a labor market that appears to have no space for them.

According to a Gallup poll conducted from October to December 2025, 72% of respondents described the current job market as a “bad time” to secure quality employment. Between December 2024 and March 2025, the labor force participation rate declined from 62.4% to 61.9%—a drop of 0.5 percentage points. For context, this same metric took a full decade (2012–2022) to fall by 2.1 percentage points, underscoring the rapid deterioration of job opportunities.

The timing of this crisis coincides with an AI automation frenzy sweeping through tech companies and their investors. While the direct correlation between AI and job scarcity remains debated, recent graduates argue the connection is too stark to ignore.

Gillian Frost, a 22-year-old quantitative economics major set to graduate from Smith College in Massachusetts in May 2025, has spent months searching for work. Since September 2024, she has applied to over 90 jobs, dedicating more than two hours weekly to applications.

“Every weekend, I dedicate over two hours to job applications,” Frost told The Guardian. “As of today, I’ve applied to over 90 jobs. I’ve been ghosted by nearly 25% of them and rejected automatically from around 55%. The effort has secured me 10 interviews, but many don’t even bother to tell you you’re not a good fit.”

She added, “I feel helpless… how do you prepare for a tight labor market coinciding with the emergence of AI and direct US involvement in war? Most generations have dealt with maybe one of these, but our generation is the first to deal with all three.”

AI has also become a central—and often frustrating—component of the job search process. A 25-year-old communications graduate from New York University, who requested anonymity, explained the added complexity:

“

For every job, especially at larger entities likely to use AI in hiring, it’s essential to tailor my resume explicitly for that position and include as many keywords as possible. It’s aggravating and exhausting, but sadly a necessity in this f***ed-up market and point in technological development.

I hate that I have to worry about passing a machine’s arbitrary and unknowable tests before anyone considers my human capability and what I could bring to a given position as an individual.”

Regardless of the root cause, one thing is clear: these graduates are working harder than ever, only to face a job market that offers little in return. Their struggles reflect not just bad timing but an economic system seemingly ill-equipped to support them.

Related: Job Seekers Sue Company Scanning Their Résumés Using AI