Laura Ullrich has sympathy for college graduates looking for work. The director of economic research for the job site Indeed knows that struggle intimately. Her son, a data scientist, is graduating with a master’s degree this year. “Because of the job I do, I get asked by lots of his friends’ parents and friends for help,” she says. “But it’s brutal out there right now.”
The labor market worsened for recent college graduates, those ages 22 to 27, at the end of last year. The unemployment rate climbed to about 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, an uptick from prior months and above the rates of 4.2% for all workers and the 3.1% for college grads of all ages, according to the New York Fed.
