It hasn’t been the easiest year to land a job, and in 2026, the employment landscape will likely remain just as volatile. Managers will be grappling with how to deploy AI in their businesses and what skills they really need on the team to bring about efficiencies. Companies will also be wrangling with policy headwinds such as tariffs and the normalization of the base rate, as well as how consumer spending will hold up through the rest of the year.
So far, it’s been younger workers who have struggled the most. According to a November note from Oxford Economics, Gen Z job seekers—currently aged 13 to 28—are facing multiple barriers to landing a role. With hiring tracking downward, unemployment has risen particularly fast among those with less experience, so while America’s overall unemployment rate has sat around 4%, those in the 16 to 19 age bracket are contending with a 14% rate, while 19 to 24-year-olds average around 9%.
Education is a significant factor in the job prospects of young people: Those who have a college degree face a fractionally lower unemployment rate at the time of writing (a little over 6%) than peers with a high school diploma or some level of college training. While debate is rife about whether college degrees are worth the financial burden, it’s evident that employers want to hire people who have demonstrated a commitment to learning.
Enter the trend of “microcredentials,” professional certificates that demonstrate a candidate is pursuing additional training or qualifications to support the roles they’re applying for. According to $1.3 billion learning platform Coursera, more than 90% of employers would rather hire a candidate with a microcredential on their CV than one without.
