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KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Remote work has accounted for 64% of the increase in unemployment among recent college graduates since 2017.
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Employers are less likely to hire recent graduates for remote jobs, citing challenges in training them online.
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Entry-level remote jobs are still available in healthcare, tech, and customer service industries.
While AI may be getting the brunt of the blame for the recent hiring slowdown for college graduates, another influential technology force is also at play, economists said this week.
Recent college graduates worry that AI is taking their jobs by replacing entry-level positions. But researchers this week found that it is only one factor in the rising unemployment rate among young college graduates.
According to the New York Federal Reserve, the proliferation of remote work accounted for about 64% of the increase in unemployment rates among recent college graduates.
Why This Matters
Having job options within their career path is essential for college students post-graduation. Their first job can impact their ability to afford necessary and discretionary spending, how quickly they can pay off their student debt, and their eventual career success.
The number of remote positions across the labor market has risen fourfold since the pandemic. Yet, recent college graduates are generally locked out of these jobs as employers believe it is harder to train them online.
For recent college graduates in remote-friendly jobs such as software engineering, the unemployment rate increased by almost 1 percentage point from 2017 to 2024 (excluding the pandemic). Compared with recent college grads in “non-remotable” jobs, such as mechanical engineering, the unemployment rate has remained relatively unchanged.
This trend is specifically targeting young workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
While the unemployment rate for young workers without a bachelor’s degree is still higher than those with a degree, from March 2022 to March 2026, the unemployment rate for young workers without a bachelor’s degree remained unchanged. During that same time, the unemployment rate for workers in the same age range but with a degree increased by 1.7 percentage points.
Young workers with no college degree or a trade certificate are more likely to work in-person, hands-on jobs, which offer less exposure to remote work and AI.
The Remote Work That Is Still Hiring
While many employers are not hiring recent college graduates for remote work, there are still some options.
The top three employers that are offering entry-level remote jobs were all in the healthcare and tech industries, according to FlexJobs, a job site for remote and hybrid jobs. The top position types were customer service, administrative and sales.
