Hiring for new graduates in the 15 largest companies fell by over 50% since 2019

As millions of students prepare to graduate this spring, their chances of landing that crucial first job—the one that kickstarts a career—appear increasingly uncertain.

Beyond a cooling economy burdened by tariff-related uncertainty, the rise of artificial intelligence is now threatening the entry-level roles that have long functioned as gateways into the workforce, according to Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer. In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Raman compared the current disruption to the collapse of manufacturing jobs in the 1980s.