Three public unemployment and underemployment rates
Underemployment, ages 22 to 27
42%
Unemployment, ages 22 to 27
5.6%
Unemployment, age 25 and up
2.5%
See the data
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Underemployment, ages 22 to 27 | 42% |
| Unemployment, ages 22 to 27 | 5.6% |
| Unemployment, age 25 and up | 2.5% |
Two official numbers can both be current and still confuse a student who is applying this month. One says degree holders are rarely unemployed. The other says a large share of recent graduates are in jobs that do not typically require the degree. Employers, in a third data set, say they still want an internship before they hire you full time. That is the gap. The degree is not a substitute for a piece of supervised work, and the headline unemployment rate is not the rate for people your age.
The New York Fed’s college labor market page reports 2026:Q2 figures for recent graduates ages 22 to 27. Unemployment in that group was about 5.6%. Underemployment was 42%. The Fed defines underemployment as a college graduate working in a job that typically does not require a college degree, using occupational data to judge whether a bachelor’s is what the job usually asks for. The figures include people with graduate degrees as well as bachelor’s degrees, and they are national. The Fed’s own notes say early-career graduates are ages 22 to 27. If you are 21 and still enrolled, you are not inside that statistic. You are walking toward it.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Table A-5 is a different cut. For September 2026, seasonally adjusted unemployment for people age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher was 2.5%. That row includes older workers with long job histories. A relative can quote that 2.5% and say the economy is fine for people with degrees. For people 25 and up, that September figure was 2.5%. For recent graduates in the Fed’s 2026:Q2 cut, unemployment was about 5.6%, and 42% were in jobs that do not typically require the degree. Both pages were public at the same time. They measure different groups.
What employers say they are hiring for
NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update, surveyed February 12 to March 17, 2026, says employers expect to hire 5.6% more new college graduates from the Class of 2026 than they previously projected, and that the increase is not even across industries. A plurality, 45%, called the market for that class fair. Nearly all respondents said they value a U.S. internship. A bit more than three-quarters value co-ops. More than 40% look for on-campus student work. Nearly 70% said they use skills-based hiring. The skills they name for resumes include teamwork, problem-solving, and communication, shown with an example.
Read that next to the Fed’s underemployment figure. Employers are not mainly saying the degree is worthless. They are saying the degree without a supervised piece of work is hard to judge. Skills-based hiring still needs evidence. An internship, a co-op, or a campus job is the evidence they told NACE they recognize.
NACE’s 2026 Internship and Co-op figures make the loop tighter. The average conversion of 2024-25 interns into full-time hires was 63.1% in that survey, a five-year high, and 88.3% of those offers were accepted. Internships are how a lot of full-time offers happen. The posting that says “entry level” and also says “prior internship” is describing that loop. You can think the loop is unfair and still need a plan that gets you one lap of it.
What to do about it this year
Stop comparing your inbox to the 2.5% figure. That number will not answer you. Use the Fed’s definitions when you talk to yourself: a job that does not require the degree is a common early outcome, and it is not the same thing as unemployment. If you take that job, keep a log of any task that matches the role you still want, so the year is not a blank on the resume. Career advice that says “just get any job” is incomplete unless you also keep the evidence for the next one.
If you are still enrolled, treat the internship, the campus job, or one finished project as the priority that the NACE respondents described, and treat extra elective browsing as optional. You need one story of supervised or completed work more than you need a fifth student organization. The spring update’s recruiting calendar also says 37% of full-time recruiting and 27% of intern recruiting is happening in the spring. Keep applying in the spring. A fall silence is not the end of the employer’s year.
When a posting requires experience you do not have, do not invent it. Apply where the required experience is a campus job, a class project, or a first internship. Put the postings that require two prior internships on a later list. The gap is real. Pretending you have already crossed it is how interviews fall apart.
Example
Example. Your uncle cites a low unemployment rate for college graduates and asks why you do not have three offers. You can say, without picking a fight, that the 2.5% figure is for people 25 and older, and that recent graduates are a different group in the Fed’s tables. Then you go back to the plan: one campus job you can describe, one project with an artifact, and applications to internships that do not require an internship you have not had. You do not spend the evening rewriting your resume to sound like a mid-level hire.
How Flightpath helps
Flightpath is aimed at this gap. It asks your year and goals, ranks roles against skills you have confirmed, and labels a role you are not eligible for so it does not sit above one you can take. A plan by semester lines a course up with the posting that wants proof. A tailored resume and interview practice come from that posting. Flightpath suggests a person from public contacts, or gives you a search link, and drafts a note you approve. Nothing is sent until you approve it. The public numbers above are context. They are not a score Flightpath assigns to you.