It's tough out there for new college grads

This episode of Make Me Smart explores the increasingly difficult job market facing recent college graduates, highlighting rising unemployment and underemployment rates, particularly in the wake of economic uncertainty, the Great Recession, the pandemic, and the looming threat of AI. Host Kimberly Adams speaks with Noam Scheiber, labor reporter at The New York Times and author of 'Mutiny, the Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class,' who argues that college grads are not only struggling to find jobs that match their degrees but are also experiencing a profound sense of betrayal and radicalization. This has led to a growing worker consciousness across industries—from Starbucks and Apple stores to video game designers and doctors—many of whom are organizing unions and embracing a proletarian identity. Scheiber emphasizes that while the situation is dire, college still instills valuable agency and critical thinking skills that remain essential in an AI-driven world. The episode concludes with practical advice: stay resilient, leverage your college-earned confidence, and focus on uniquely human skills like synthesis, persuasion, and decision-making. Key takeaways include: 1) College grads are facing unprecedented job market challenges, with underemployment at 42.5% and rising debt compounding the stress; 2) A growing sense of worker solidarity is uniting college-educated workers across industries, leading to widespread unionization efforts; 3) The rise of AI threatens white-collar jobs, but human skills like critical thinking and persuasion remain irreplaceable; 4) College still provides agency and problem-solving ability that can be leveraged in tough circumstances; 5) The experience of recent grads mirrors past economic shifts but now affects white-collar workers in ways previously thought to be isolated to blue-collar labor.