Graduate unemployment
This chart compares unemployment among recent college graduates with unemployment among all workers. It uses New York Fed calculations from the Current Population Survey; recent graduates are younger and less experienced, so the comparison is descriptive rather than an estimate of the causal value of a degree.
What does it show?
Recent college graduates now have a higher unemployment rate than the workforce as a whole.
Methodology
New York Fed calculations from the Current Population Survey. Recent college graduates are ages 22–27 with a bachelor's degree or higher; all workers are ages 16–65. People currently enrolled in school are excluded. The source publishes seasonally adjusted three-month moving averages, which this chart displays without additional smoothing. The comparison is descriptive: the groups differ in age and experience, so the gap does not isolate the effect of a degree. These are New York Fed research calculations, not official BLS estimates; source vintages may revise recent observations.