Why 2025 Grads Can Expect A Tough Job Market

Forbes

30-04-2025

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2025 college graduates are entering a tough job market as the economy shrinks and more experience ... More workers who've been laid off compete for the same positions.
Between a slowing economy, an influx of former federal workers looking for new jobs and an overall tightening labor market, the job prospects for 2025 graduates aren't looking too bright.
While college students across the country will sit for their final exams in the coming weeks, the reality of life after school will likely be much different from what they expect: About 82% of students in of the class of 2025 anticipate having a full-time job three months after graduation, while only 77% of recent graduates have accomplished that, according to a ZipRecruiter survey.
There is an increasing gap between those that can land a job quickly versus those taking six months or more to find a full-time gig. Nursing or health science majors should be able to find employment a bit easier, as these two sectors led employment gains in the last month. But jobs for computer science majors and software engineers have slowed—unless you have AI skills.
Political science majors are also seeing their job prospects shrink. The federal government is contracting thanks to DOGE-led cuts, eliminating early-career fellowships and other opportunities for thousands across the country. For the government jobs left at the state and local level, recent grads are likely competing with those departing from federal jobs.
To make matters worse, internships aren't converting to full-time employment as frequently as before, according to a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
Still, graduates are optimistic: About 83% said they were confident in their job prospects after commencement, according to a Monster report. We'll keep our eyes out for this week's upcoming labor report to see exactly what 2025 grads will be facing.
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Senior research director Alexia Cambon breaks down what "frontier firms" mean and how employees can ... More push their bosses to adopt the same mindset.
AI use is becoming an increasingly important part of work. From taking courses on 'AI skills' to AI agents that should increase our productivity, companies are pushing for AI adoption at different rates. The most proactive have been coined 'frontier firms' by a new Microsoft work trends report. I spoke with report author and senior research director Alexia Cambon about what this means for employees outside of frontier firms and how workers can advocate for more AI use. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The adoption task seems pretty straightforward for workers at 'frontier firms.' But what happens to those working at companies behind the curve?
Your organization needs you to become a frontier firm employee, even if it's not a frontier firm. I see this even within my own team. So for example, I have a data scientist who's the best data scientist in the world. But we are also actively bringing in all the data science tools you can imagine that allow me to rely less on him for data science. Our entire relationship is about data science, so that naturally raises questions. For him, it's: 'What does that mean for the work I do?' I have never seen anyone go after AI and agents as quickly or as hungrily as this man. He has literally built half of the agents for you. He's gone out and experimented with everything left, right, and center. Ultimately, we need him desperately. Even if his data science skills can be done through agents, his ingenuity and figuring out how agents can be used for data science, I need that from him.
So that's what I would say to employees reading the report and wondering, 'What does this mean for me? I don't work in a frontier firm.' Just last year's report saw that employees were bringing AI to work, whether it was secret or not. We need employees to do that and force the conversation, because that is the type of employee that will be most needed. One that is really hungry to go out there and initiate the change.
That's a big shift from last year, right? Now employers, instead of workers, are pushing AI adoption. Where is this coming from?
I think it just points to the fact that business demands are increasing because the pace is accelerating so quickly. At the level it's at now, it is just too fast for humans alone to deal with, especially with this emphasis on productivity and efficiency, and we're not running out of work. It's funny, there are these conflicting tensions of people being terrified that AI is coming for their jobs and that we're not going to have any jobs left, versus organizations needing productivity, needing more capacity. I personally don't think we're running out of work. I don't think we'll ever run out of work to do.
We live in an age of convenience––everything is available at the press of a button! And work is a constant balance of energy. You probably have types of work that really drain you of energy and types of work that really energize you and make you excited and happy. We don't wanna spend our energy budget on the types of work that drain us. That's what AI is here to do––to lift the mundane out of our work.
So how can employees master these 'AI skills' to make their work life easier?
I wouldn't say there's any one right way, the outcomes will dictate what works best. But I think there's a responsibility on every employee to take full advantage of the training that their company is providing. And if the company isn't providing any training, then shout out from the rooftops and say that if we wanna stay relevant and competitive we need to train the entire workforce to have these skills. We see the beginnings of AI usage becoming part of performance reviews or job development considerations. So the infrastructure will continue to grow around this to really incentivize people to use it, the same way today we can't imagine doing, say our taxes, without the internet.
News from the world of work.
Elissa Butterfield spent years of her life responding to Elon Musk's ever-shifting demands as one of his assistants. Now, she's investing in his companies as general partner at Island Green Capital Management, Forbes' John Hyatt reports.
DOGE staffers in the National Labor Relations Board are causing a stir. Days after an April whistleblower report alleged that DOGE misappropriated sensitive labor dispute data, DOGE staffers paid a visit to the Washington, D.C. office. Now, agency leaders have told its staffers that those talking to the press will 'face serious legal consequences,' ProPublica reports.
Did you bring your kids to work last week? As offices welcomed the children of staffers, a pair of 13-year-olds surprised Pepsi and Dr.Pepper's CEOs during their earnings calls. The children of Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala asked the CEOs questions about their finances as they visited their dad, even beating another analyst to a question, Bloomberg reports.
In layoffs news of the week, UPS announced it would let 20,000 workers go this year as it cut its Amazon shipments for 2025, and Meta has let go of workers in its Reality Labs group, which houses its metaverse and virtual reality endeavors. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency reportedly told nearly 300 staffers they would be either fired or reassigned.
Over 100 lawyers and staff in the DOJ's civil rights division have reportedly resigned or taken the administration's deferred resignation program, as the president shifts the division's mission as part of his larger battle against diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
And while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hates DEI, his deputy billionaire Steven Feinberg has poured millions into the cause, Forbes' Dan Alexander reports.
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