Degrees losing shine: Why are American Gen Z men saying bye to college dreams for calloused hands

Time of India

23-07-2025

For decades, a college degree was the American dream's most prized possession, a laminated promise that hard work in the classroom would translate into a seat at the professional table.
But for today's Gen Z graduates, that dream is unraveling at the seams.
Step into any graduation ceremony and you'll find applause, caps in the air, and proud parents brimming with hope. Fast forward a few months, and that same graduate might be hunched over a laptop, firing off résumés into the digital void, or clocking into a job that never required a diploma at all.
Recent analysis by the Financial Times, using data from the US Current Population Survey, reveals a jarring reality: Young male college graduates aged 22 to 27 now have nearly the same unemployment rate as their peers without degrees according to Financial Times, July 2025.
According to the Federal Reserve, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates currently sits at 5.5%, compared to 6.9% for all young workers in the same age group according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2025.
Once a reliable ladder to economic mobility, a college degree is now being met with shrinking returns, and growing disillusionment.
Same degree, same struggle
Just over a decade ago, the post-recession job market painted a very different picture.
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In 2010, young men without college degrees faced unemployment rates above 15%, while their college-educated peers were closer to 7% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). That educational edge has since eroded.
The reasons are twofold. First, employers are quietly dropping degree requirements for many entry-level jobs, particularly in tech, logistics, and customer service roles, according to Harvard Business Review, 2023.
Second, the proliferation of college graduates has diluted the exclusivity of a bachelor's degree, making it less of a differentiator in the hiring process.
As a result, Gen Z men are increasingly finding themselves jobless despite their degrees, or employed in roles that don't require one.
The gender gap in joblessness
While college-educated men face rising unemployment, their female counterparts are faring better. According to the Financial Times analysis, only about 4% of college-educated women aged 22–27 are unemployed, compared to 7% among similarly educated men, according to a recent Financial Times report.
The gap is partly explained by the growth of sectors like healthcare, which tend to employ more women and are among the fastest-growing fields in the US economy. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that healthcare occupations will add about 1.9 million job openings annually over the next decade (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034).
Moreover, healthcare is viewed as recession-resistant, a trait that has become especially attractive in a post-pandemic world (Indeed Career Insights, 2023).
Experts also point to differences in how men and women approach the job search. Women are often more flexible, willing to accept part-time, temporary, or less-than-ideal roles to gain experience or financial stability. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to hold out for roles that match their ideal career vision, which may result in longer periods of unemployment.
NEET status and the emotional cost
The acronym NEET—Not in Employment, Education, or Training—has become a growing concern.
Roughly 11% of Gen Z youth now fall into this category, with young men disproportionately represented according to Pew Research Center, 2024.
This group often includes college graduates who, after months or years of fruitless job hunting, disengage from both professional and educational pathways. Many face emotional exhaustion, loss of motivation, and long-term economic consequences. While often misunderstood as apathetic or unambitious, NEET youth are frequently the product of a broken system—one that over-promised and under-delivered.
Skilled trades: The rebellion in steel-toed boots
Faced with bleak prospects and mounting debt, a growing number of Gen Z men are charting a different course: vocational trades.
Between 2011 and 2022, the number of college students in the US dropped by 1.2 million, with nearly 1 million of that decline attributed to male students, according to a Pew Research Center analysis in 2023.
At the same time, enrollment in two-year public vocational programs surged by over 20% since 2020, adding more than 850,000 students, per the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC, 2024).
These trade programs—training students in plumbing, carpentry, automotive repair, and electrical work—are not only less expensive than four-year degrees, but often lead to high-paying, stable careers. The median wage for skilled trade workers in certain fields now rivals or exceeds that of many college-educated roles as mentioned in the US Department of Labor, 2024.
Degrees aren't dead—but they're no longer sacred
None of this suggests that higher education is obsolete.
Degrees still matter, for certain fields and career tracks, they remain essential. But the myth of the guaranteed payoff is gone. And Gen Z men are no longer buying in blindly.
What we are witnessing is not the death of education, but the recalibration of value. In a post-pandemic, AI-disrupted, inflation-torn economy, young people are prioritizing return on investment, and four-year degrees, for many, simply aren't delivering.
This shift is a generational correction, not a crisis. It's a recognition that the path to success may no longer be paved with parchment, but with practical skills, economic independence, and the confidence to defy tradition.
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