New college graduates this year are entering a tougher job market than last year — classes before that were much worse than classes — just like the Trump administration cuts student loan repayments.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last week that the unemployment rate for recent graduates was 5.8% as of March, up from 4.6% in the same period last year. The share of new graduates who do not require a degree (called "underemployment" situation) reached 41.2% in March, up from 40.6% in the same month in 2024.

“Things are frozen now,” Allison Shrivastava, an economist who hired labs, said of the entry-level prospects. “Many employers and job seekers are deer in their heads and are not sure what to do.”

This coincides with Julia Abbott's experience.

“I just feel very messed up like I am now,” said James Madison University, a psychology major this month who graduated from Harrisonburg, Virginia. She said she applied for more than 200 roles in social media and marketing, but “the fewest interviews come from that.”

In fact, internship positions usually rise sharply in early spring, but in fact they are said in April that they are 11 percentage points behind. The recruitment platform sees the needs of interns as new graduates’ job prospects that are stronger than entry-level positions, and entry-level posts are increasingly targeting people with at least a few years of experience.

Shrivastava said that among the worrying signs of the 2025 class, internship vacancies were “far below the fierce competition in the labor market in 2023 and 2022”.

Historically, young college graduates have lower unemployment levels than the workforce overall, and they still do so. But, as the Atlantic pointed out on Wednesday, the gap has narrowed to a record low, thus breaking away from the traditional interests of a bachelor’s degree.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is defaulting on restarting “involuntary” repayments of federal student loans, a move that could waste money from salaries, tax refunds, Social Security payments, and retirement benefits for people with disabilities and millions of borrowers.

During President Donald Trump's first term in 2020, he also suspended repayments in response to 19020. The forced collection rate in the pandemic era ended Monday, just like a new Transunion report found that federal student loan borrowers had a record share of 90 days or more and were at risk of default (as of February, as of 20.5%), up 10 percentage points from five years ago.

The debt crackdown is because workers across the entire workforce face a stricter recruitment pattern. Government data showed on Friday that employers added more than expected 177,000 jobs in April, but analysts can quickly mark warning signs ahead of schedule.

Average pay growth slowed down the crawl, and unemployment metrics suggest that it takes longer for those seeking jobs to ensure jobs. While the latest jobs figures point to a “resilent” labor market, “because the context of trade policy could put the economy in trouble, we should curb our enthusiasm,” Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings, said in a statement Friday. “The outlook remains very uncertain.”

The vague work forecasts coincide with the wider economic turmoil driven by Trump’s ongoing trade war.

Many large companies have warned of the tariff impact in recent days. All but the wealthiest families are tightening their budgets, with consumers’ outlook falling to 13-year lows in a closely watched conference committee survey released Tuesday. Some of the expenses incurred reflect the purchases made by shoppers and businesses in order to increase costs in all aspects, from cars to frozen fish and fireworks.

These headwinds have made many employers increasingly cautious in hiring Young graduate.

Employers have shrunk their plans to hire more new graduates in the past six months, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which has investigated major companies such as Chevron, PepsiCo and Southwest. Although most say their new-level recruitment plans have remained stable, the share of respondents planning to expand entry-level recruitment will drop to 24.6% this spring. That's down from 27% last fall and the lowest since fall 2020.

In March, NACE released a salary forecast showing the 2025 grade, with social science graduates set to drop 3.6% from their salary since last year, while agricultural and natural resources professionals have experienced a 2.8% bump in their 24% of their '24 predecessors. However, these estimates are based on data from an employer survey last fall, the weeks before Trump took office.

"I'm not surprised," said Andy West, a senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey, who said some clients are increasingly discussing ways to "reallocate resources" due to tariffs and other macroeconomic concerns. When employers seek to cut costs and stability, many tend to zero out expenses that fluctuate over time, including payroll.

“When it comes to recruitment and talent, usually these are very short-term decisions surrounding slowing down,” he said.

'The 25 job seekers class is adjusting expectations for a stricter market.

More than half have abandoned their “dream work” plan to enter college, according to a survey of handshakes in February by graduate-centric recruitment platforms. Currently 56% of the elderly are now entering the labor force somewhat or very pessimistically. This is roughly the same share as last year, but in areas such as computer science, the outlook is falling sharply.

Anxiety is common among college students, but this year’s deep uncertainty may hinder the start of school season.

"I really can't celebrate the past four years," said JMU senior Abbott. "It's like walking into this world, without something for me, it's really scary."