The Graduate Job Market Collapse: What’s Really Going On

I wanted to talk about something that’s a worrying trend.

I’ve never seen it this bad for young people entering the workforce.

Every year, I get messages from graduates, many with top degrees from the most prestigious universities. Often they’re the children of clients, family, or friends - bright, ambitious, and ready to work hard. They're asking for advice on how to navigate the job application process.

But this year, it feels different.

Because they’re not getting anything. Not even interviews.

There’s simply nothing for them.

• Graduate-level job openings are down by more than 30% since last year.

• Reed reported a drop from 180,000 in 2023 to just 55,000 graduate roles in 2025.

• Across the UK and Europe, unemployment among university graduates has overtaken the general unemployment rate - for the first time ever.

That’s not cyclical. That’s structural. Something deeper has shifted:

• Entry-level tasks like research, analysis, admin, data processing are now handled by automation or AI tools.

The jobs that used to build experience have evaporated into history.

Yet tuition costs and student debt keep rising.

So where does that leave the recent graduates today?

If you were advising an 18 to 21-year-old today, would you tell them to go to university, or to focus on AI and digital skills, learn the latest AI skills fast, and build from there?

And do you think there are any other reasons that grad jobs are disappearing?

I asked on LinkedIn is people think university is still worth it. 100 votes. See the results.