42% of Recent US Graduates Work Jobs Without a Degree Need
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About 42% of US college graduates aged 22 to 27 were underemployed in June, working jobs that typically don't require a bachelor's degree. The figure comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's tracker of the labor market for recent graduates, as reported by Fortune.
The rate was up from 41.8% in May and down from 42.4% in November 2025. The pandemic-era high was 43.4%, set in October 2020.
Jobless rate above the national level
Recent graduates' unemployment hit 5.7% in June, compared with 4.1% for all workers. Between 1990, when the Fed's data begins, and 2018, graduates were more likely to be unemployed than the average worker in only eight months. Every month since January 2021 has gone the other way. The gap reached a record 1.8 percentage points in April 2025 and remains near that level.
Majors differ widely. Using 2024 Census data, the Fed found underemployment highest in criminal justice at 65.8%, then performing arts at 63.9% and fine arts at 58.9%. Computer engineering had the second-worst jobless rate of any major at 7.8%, and computer science the fourth-worst at 7%. Special education stood at 0.7%, elementary education at 1.2% and nursing at 2.1%.
Underemployment among new graduates has always been high. Andrew Hanson, senior director at the Strada Education Foundation, told PolitiFact this year that the figure has historically hovered around 40%, moving up and down within about 10 percentage points. In the Fed’s data it has stayed between roughly 38% and 47% since 2008.
Young people take to the streets
Fortune links the numbers to youth protests abroad. In France, high schoolers have walked out since mid-September over teacher shortages, large classes and the Parcoursup university placement platform. By October roughly a third of the country's 3,700 lycées had been disrupted, and on Oct. 17 the Interior Ministry counted 550,000 people in the streets.
Among the students’ demands in France is 250,000 more university places. Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste has called the idea of scrapping Parcoursup “pure demagogy.” The protests have also spread to Belgium, Albania, Greece and Italy.
The September US jobs report put unemployment at 7.1% for workers aged 20 to 24, against 3.6% for those aged 25 to 54 and 3% for those over 55. A Census Bureau paper published in September found that graduates in the most AI-exposed fields faced a 5-percentage-point drop in the odds of landing a first job and 13% lower earnings.
Source: Fortune