The unemployment rate for workers under 35 with a master's degree has rarely been higher in the past two decades, even as the same metric for Ph.D., law, and medical degree holders sits near historic lows.
Master's degree holders under 35 are currently at the 77th percentile of unemployment, where the 50th percentile is normal, according to a Burning Glass Institute analysis of BLS data going back to 2003.
The number of master's degree programs grew 69% between 2005 and 2021, to more than 33,500, with even more launching since then. Burning Glass Chief Economist Gad Levanon attributes the disconnect to "more degrees chasing fewer of the positions those degrees were meant to unlock."
More than 40% of employers surveyed by Drexel University's LeBow College of Business said they had no plans to hire MBAs this year, up sharply from 26.8% who said the same in 2025.
SHRM President Johnny C. Taylor Jr. said AI has accelerated employer adoption of skills-first hiring, with employers increasingly asking simply, "Can you do it?"
Read more via The Wall Street Journal
A new Monster survey finds job seekers are grinding through increasingly long searches in a market defined by low hiring and low firing.
25% of job hunters surveyed by Monster had been searching for more than a year, consistent with BLS data showing 25.3% of unemployed workers had been out of work for six months or more in April, compared to roughly 20% in the pre-pandemic years.
Tariff uncertainty, reduced immigration, and AI-driven reductions in entry-level roles are all cited as factors suppressing hiring; rising gasoline prices are estimated to be reducing job creation by an additional 10,000 positions per month, according to Goldman Sachs.
Among those still searching, 64% have applied outside their industry or typical role, 73% would give up at least one major benefit, and 32% would take a pay cut.
Read more via Investopedia
A new report finds that recent college graduates are entering a substantially more difficult job market than previous generations, and the numbers back them up.
About 58% of students who graduated in 2024 and 2025 were still looking for their first job, compared to roughly 25% of graduates in prior generations.
Just 12% of recent Gen Z graduates had full-time work lined up by graduation, compared to nearly 40% of earlier graduates.
4.3 million young Americans are currently NEET (not in education, employment, or training), with the number of NEETs in the U.K. rising by 100,000 in 2025 alone.
About 20% of job seekers have been searching for at least 10 to 12 months, and around 40% of unemployed people said they didn't land a single interview in 2024.
Read more via Fortune
Workers are increasingly treating financial benefits as a job-switching factor, and most employers already know it, according to Morgan Stanley's sixth annual State of the Workplace Financial Benefits Study.
91% of employees say they would consider switching jobs for benefits that better help them reach their financial goals, and 72% of HR executives worry employees will leave if their company can't deliver.
65% of HR executives say hiring and retention is their top strategic financial priority for 2026, up six percentage points year-over-year.
56% of employees say financial stress negatively affects their work, down from 66% last year, though 80% of employers still believe financial worries hurt workplace productivity.
84% of employees encountered financial issues in the past year, most commonly with budgeting, financial goal setting, and retirement planning.
79% of employees say their company needs to do a better job helping them understand how to maximize the financial benefits already available to them.
Read more via Morgan Stanley, Business Wire
As companies review benefit costs, a small but notable number of employers have begun suspending or scaling back 401(k) matching contributions, with direct implications for workers' retirement savings and tax planning.
TTEC, a $2 billion customer experience company, told employees it would suspend its discretionary 401(k) match through the end of 2026; Sherwin-Williams paused its match during a prior cost-cutting period before resuming it.
The average employer match in the U.S. is approximately 4.6% of pay, according to Vanguard, amounting to roughly $3,450 annually for a worker earning $75,000.
A majority of employees are more likely to participate in a retirement savings plan when an employer match is offered, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and more than a third of workers in a separate survey said they would take a 401(k) match over a salary increase.
For a $75,000 earner losing a 4.6% match, the long-term impact over 20 years at a 6% average return could mean roughly $135,000 less at retirement.
Read more via Kiplinger
As AI tools become standard in recruiting and screening, HR teams and vendors are grappling with a problem that predates the current AI boom: the technology can reduce bias, reinforce it, or obscure it entirely, depending on how it's built and used.
A 2025 University of Washington study found that recruiters using AI tools with built-in bias mirrored the AI's inequitable choices up to 90% of the time, while recruiters using unbiased AI or no AI selected white and non-white candidates equally.
A federal lawsuit against Workday alleges its AI-powered screening tools disproportionately overlooked older applicants and other protected groups; Workday argues its tools don't make final hiring decisions.
A separate lawsuit against Eightfold AI alleges its platform produces biased candidate recommendations through the use of undisclosed "dossiers" on applicants, without the consent or correction rights afforded under credit reporting laws.
Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait recommends employers ask vendors for regularly published third-party audits and ensure vendors are tracking the evolving compliance landscape, not just current requirements.
Read more via HR Brew
A new survey of more than 1,000 U.S. workers finds widespread fear of retaliation and persistent pressure to cut ethical corners at work.
22% of respondents say they have witnessed unethical or illegal conduct at work, but one in three say fear of negative consequences would prevent them from reporting it.
21% say they have felt pressure to compromise their ethical standards, rising to 26% among male respondents.
73% of respondents say DEI should be a workplace priority, but 28% say their employer does not treat it as one.
More than 40% of respondents are unaware of government whistleblower programs that offer confidentiality, legal protection, and financial incentives.
Read more via PR Newswire
A meta-analysis of peer-reviewed studies, theses, and dissertations published between 1964 and 2024 finds that not knowing what your job entails is more damaging to employees and organizations than having too much work or conflicting demands.
Researchers examined three main workplace stressors — role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload — and found role ambiguity caused the most damage to both employee wellbeing and organizational productivity.
The findings appear in the June 2026 issue of the Journal of Vocational Behaviour.
Read more via HR Dive
