During the America’s All In campaign May 2025 America’s job market was in extreme turmoil. With this action, employers slashed 93,816 jobs, an alarming 378 percent increase in layoffs from one year prior. Earlier today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that’s one of the largest leaps. That’s a 47% increase compared to the 63,816 jobs eliminated last May 2024. In May, the U.S. economy created only 139,000 net new jobs. This is a drop from the 147,000 jobs added in April.
The current wave of layoffs has particularly affected young new graduates. With just modest job additions—a relative trickle, really—many are feeling duped about the future prospects. A report released last month by job search site Glassdoor found that employee confidence levels plummeted to a record low of 44.1% in May. This is the lowest level since 2016, when it dropped to 43.4%. This increasing discontent is due in large part to the economic unpredictability, which has spooked employers into keeping new positions closed.
Young grads such as Katherine Diep and Ngina Valdez have found themselves in today’s recession, unable to find work. Diep, a 21-year-old recent graduate of the University of California Irvine, received her bachelor’s degree in business economics just last month. Here, she candidly expressed her frustrations with the entire job search process.
“I applied to over 200 to 300 jobs,” – Katherine Diep
Ngina Valdez, 22, a recent graduate of Syracuse University. She has a dual degree in communications and computer science, and she has struggled to find the right job fit. Valdez has been going through more than energy shifts as she searches for her next opportunity.
“I’ve applied to probably 100 journalism jobs, or jobs within communications,” – Ngina Valdez
“Once a month or so I’ll break down, just because I haven’t gotten anything,” – Ngina Valdez
“the 29 other days in the month, I am really motivated,” – Ngina Valdez
“I just updated my website, and that made me really excited to apply to more jobs,” – Ngina Valdez
Daniel Zhao, the senior economist at Glassdoor, pointed out the escalating challenges for young college graduates just entering the job market. He added that in the face of ongoing economic uncertainties, employers have pursued increasingly risk averse hiring strategies.
“It’s hard for young grads to get onto the career ladder,” – Daniel Zhao
“Because employers are not hiring as much,” – Daniel Zhao
“Employees have less leverage to climb the career ladder internally, as well as fewer opportunities to find those promotions or raises by switching jobs,” – Daniel Zhao
The increase in layoff mentions has, at the same time, been a leading indicator of increasing fear among job seekers. The press reports that the topic of layoffs spiked by 9% on the top social platforms. This trend reflects the acute fear of job loss and lack of opportunity felt by the current workforce and all future job seekers.
As graduates like Diep and Valdez navigate this challenging landscape, they face an uphill battle in their quest for meaningful employment. The current climate makes their immediate job search that much more difficult and impacts their long-term career trajectories.