• It is estimated that 2025 college graduates are looking to find a job this spring and they enter a cooling job market that is impacting President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

• While the market is still increasing jobs, job hunting for graduates is much more difficult than expected.

• In addition, graduates in areas affected by tariffs such as mechanical engineering may have a hard time finding jobs from college.

Juan Rodriguez has tried five months of work before completing high school at Texas State University.

After graduating on Friday, his anxiety about finding a position is continuing.

Rodriguez is one of more than 2 million American college students with an estimated bachelor’s degree this semester and has entered an increasingly uncertain job market. From March to April, employment slowed, and economists expect it to slow in the coming months. Business leaders say the uncertainty of tariffs makes it more difficult to invest and hire new employees.

Rodriguez said he had been looking for a job list since he began announcing tariffs. He said recent graduates don’t seem to be able to access the current job market.

In the fall of 2024, employers hope to hire 2025 grades and will see a 7.3% increase in recent graduates compared to the previous year. The figure dropped to 0.6% in the spring of 2025, according to a survey of employers by the National Association of Universities and Employers.

"As the labor market is gradually cooling down and there is a lot of uncertainty in the backstage economic climate, this graduating class expects to find a job soon," said Sam DeMase, a career expert at Ziprecruiter. "So they start a good job search on graduation day, but job searches are certainly slow."

This can be particularly tough for those like Rodriguez, who is manufacturing an engineering degree.

U.S. manufacturers are particularly concerned about tariffs imposed on the countries they purchase parts and supply. High tariffs on Chinese products such as electronics and mechanical equipment could disrupt supply chains and increase manufacturers' costs.

Despite the national association of universities and employers, the prospects for the 2025 class are better than those for the 2024 class, despite tariffs stagnation.