Latest news with #MatthewJLee
Vox
4 days ago
- Business
- Vox
What today's new college graduates are up against
is a policy correspondent for Vox covering social policy. She focuses on housing, schools, homelessness, child care, and abortion rights, and has been reporting on these issues for more than a decade. Northeastern University students toss their caps at the end of their graduation ceremony on May 11, 2025, at Fenway Park in Boston. Matthew J Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images A Vox reader asks: Maybe it's because I am a new grad, graduating with my bachelor's in May yippee! But it seems everyone is super pessimistic about the job market these days. Has it been harder to get a job for people in recent years, or am I just finally shedding my childhood naïveté and being forced to wake up to the way the job market has always been? Congratulations on your graduation! That's a genuine achievement worth celebrating, even amid job market concerns. The short answer to your question is that, unfortunately, the economic data does confirm what you're sensing: The job market really is more challenging for new graduates right now, and it's not just your childhood optimism fading away. You and your peers have faced uniquely tough circumstances. You started college during a pandemic, and now you're entering a job market that's shifting beneath your feet in ways that can feel discouraging, even though they're driven by much larger economic and technological forces. This isn't the first time graduates have faced a difficult transition. The Great Recession in 2008 led to hiring freezes and layoffs that blocked new workers from landing entry-level jobs. The labor market took time to heal after unemployment peaked in 2009, but improved steadily until the pandemic disrupted that progress. What new grads are facing Numbers from the first quarter of 2025 from the New York Federal Reserve show that the unemployment rate for recent college graduates reached 5.8 percent, up from 4.8 percent in January. Companies have also pulled back on hiring. Last fall, employers expected to increase college-graduate hiring by 7.3 percent, according to a survey led by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Now they're projecting just a 0.6 percent increase, with about 11 percent of companies planning to hire fewer new grads than before. Explain It to Me The Explain It to Me newsletter answers an interesting question from an audience member in a digestible explainer from one of our journalists. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A few different factors are working together to create this challenging environment. First, the new tariffs have created economic uncertainty. The stock market responded accordingly, with the S&P 500 down about 6.5 percent since inauguration day. As a result, businesses are hesitant to expand their workforce. The elephant in the room here — that Great Recession grads didn't have to deal with — is artificial intelligence. There's evidence that AI might be affecting entry-level opportunities. The tasks typically performed by new college graduates — synthesizing information, producing reports — align with what generative AI can now generally handle. And while the unemployment rate for recent grads is 5.8 percent, the overall unemployment rate is 4.2 percent — a record gap. This suggests that while companies are not laying workers off because of AI en masse, they may be using AI to do jobs that would otherwise have gone to new grads. It's understandably frustrating when you've done everything 'right' — earned your degree and prepared for the job market — only to face conditions that are more challenging than in recent years. The good news about the job market Despite these challenges, some sectors are still actively hiring. Health care accounts for 34 percent of total payroll gains this year. Engineering positions, especially electronics engineering, offer opportunities with high starting salaries (projected at $78,731). Special education roles are abundant, and while federal hiring has contracted, state and local governments remain strong for entry-level hiring. Sales consistently ranks among the top fields for new college graduates. On the tariffs front, the situation seems to be turning a corner now, as stock markets digest news of President Donald Trump's recent deal with China. This deal could help prevent a full recession and improve the outlet for college-graduate hiring. The reality is that your job search might take longer than you hoped. Over 80 percent of seniors told ZipRecruiter in March that they expect to start working within three months of graduating, but in reality, only about 77 percent from recent graduating classes started that quickly. If it takes even longer for you or your peers, that's not a personal failure — it's simply a reflection of the market you're entering.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Boston Globe
15 restaurants to visit around Boston this summer
Tiki time If you want to send a signal to yourself that it's time for a bit of carefree fun, order a drink in a kitschy mug shaped like a skull or a coconut, loaded with fruit juice and rum and orchids and paper umbrellas. That will do the trick. For a drink and some sushi (and a roster of Pride events this month), Shore Leave in the South End is your destination. Others to try: pupu platter palace Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up Aplaya Kitchen + Tiki Bar, 483 Main St., Chatham, 508-348-5132, . Shore Leave, 11 William E. Mullins Way, South End, Boston, 617-530-1775, . Wusong Road, 112 Mt. Auburn St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, 617-528-9125, . Advertisement Moules marinières at Bernadette in Salem. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Advertisement Continental mental vacation A trip to Europe would be lovely, but if it's not in the budget (or you've been posting things on social media that might make customs agents vewy vewy angwy), skip the jetlag and do dinner instead. Try Salem bistro Bernadette, 65 Washington St., Salem, 978-224-2976, . Osteria Vivo, 254 Church St., Pembroke, 781-924-1315, . Zurito, 26 Charles St., Beacon Hill, Boston, 857-305-3177, . Tempura oyster tacos at Nautilus, the Seaport offshoot of the Nantucket favorite. You'll find them on the dinner menu; weekend lunch brings oysters, poke, smash burgers, and more. Matthew J Lee/Globe staff Lunch by the water If you didn't have a lobster roll, did you even summer? At Little Harbor Lobster Company, a waterfront seafood market in Marblehead, order up their excellent version (⅓ pound of meat, with mayo or drawn butter) and eat it overlooking the harbor. The tiny-and-mighty Mae's Sandwich Shop serves up excellent baked goods and sandwiches to write home about, right across the street from the ocean. Try the Mae Day (roasted veggies, feta, and romesco) or the Uncle Stevie (roast beef with roasted shallots, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and black pepper mayo), both on fresh house-made focaccia. If you're looking to sit down in style, the Advertisement Little Harbor Lobster Company, 3 Beacon St., Marblehead, 781-639-1961, . Mae's Sandwich Shop, 563 Ocean St., Marshfield, 781-319-2726, . The Nautilus, 300 Pier 4 Boulevard, Seaport, Boston, 857-957-0998, . Brown butter okra with masala-spiced yogurt at Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Date night Bring your loved one to Comfort Kitchen for a tasting tour of the spice routes — via brown butter okra with masala-spiced yogurt, jerk roast duck, goat ragu and cassava gnudi, and excellent drinks to match. Field & Vine makes the most of New England ingredients in dishes such as tautog ceviche with smoked sweet potato, crispy potato cakes with melted leeks, and Wellfleet clams with green crab curry and house-made focaccia. The latest restaurant from Xenia Greek Hospitality, Kaia focuses on the Aegean coast: Try sea urchin terrine, tuna crudo, mushroom souvlaki, or grilled whole fish. Each spot has a great — and different — date-night vibe. Comfort Kitchen, 611 Columbia Road, Dorchester, 617-329-6910, . Field & Vine, 9 Sanborn Court, Somerville, 617-718-2333, . Kaia, 370 Harrison Ave., South End, Boston, 617-514-0700, . A spread at El Tacuba in Medford. Brian Samuels Out with friends It's roof deck season at Cunard Tavern by the East Boston waterfront, and James Beard award-winning chef Tony Messina is serving up scallion pancake pizza with spicy vodka sauce and burrata, lobster poutine, crispy chicken sandwiches with kimchi pimento cheese, and more. El Tacuba keeps you and your pals in margaritas and Mexican fare (queso fundido and guac, ceviche, all manner of tacos) all summer long. Lulu Green makes plant-based brunching an art (dinnering too): Come for huevos rojos and pancakes, seitan shawarma bowls and house burgers on pretzel buns, Korean-style lettuce wraps and mushroom 'short ribs,' plus chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, and all the fun drinks you want to drink. (In addition to the South Boston flagship, there's now a branch at Time Out Market in the Fenway.) Advertisement Cunard Tavern, 24 Orleans St., East Boston, 617-567-7609, . El Tacuba, 35 Salem St., Medford, 617-390-0600, . Lulu Green, 246 W. Broadway, South Boston, 617-420-4070, . Oysters at Winsor House in Duxbury. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Day trip, brought to you by dinner Sometimes the whole day comes together around what you want to eat later. Take a Thursday off of work, book a tasting menu at Lune in Dennis Port, and head out early to enjoy the day on a gorgeous beach; after dinner, shoot back home to Boston. You visited the Cape during peak season and skipped the traffic. Nicely done. (Lune's tasting menus are available Thursday-Saturday with 5:30 and 8 p.m. seatings; an a la carte menu is offered Wednesday and Sunday.) Or head to Duxbury and spend the afternoon at Island Creek's delightful raw bar by the water. Play lawn games, enjoy the scene, and suck down fresh oysters, caviar, and more. You can also book a farm tour. For dinner, head to sister restaurant the Winsor House for stylish fare, and more oysters, of course. (If you want to skip the day trip, there's now a temporary Island Creek Raw Bar in the Seaport.) Gloucester sushi chef Sang Hyun Lee recently became a champion on cooking show 'Chopped.' Visit his Sushi Sang Lee for beautiful omakase menus created with seafood from nearby waters. Or, earlier in the day, get a bento box to go and eat on the beach. Advertisement Lune, 587 Main St., Dennis Port, 508-237-6597, . Island Creek Raw Bar, 403 Washington St., Duxbury, and 99 Autumn Lane, Seaport, Boston, 781-934-2028; the Winsor House, 390 Washington St., Duxbury, 781-934-0991; . Sushi Sang Lee, 76 Prospect St., Rear Suite, Gloucester, 978-381-3818, . Devra First can be reached at
