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College Graduates in Jobs That Don’t Need a Degree
Share of employed graduates in jobs that typically do not require a college degree, recent and all college graduates, monthly, %
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
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NY Fed, from the Current Population Survey: seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average, people enrolled in school excluded. Recent graduates are aged 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher. October 2025 is estimated by the NY Fed. A job counts as a college job when at least half the people doing it say a bachelor’s degree is needed (O*NET).
Unemployment counts the graduates who can’t find work; underemployment counts those who found work that doesn’t use the degree. New graduates always sit higher, since many start below their level and move up; the question is how wide the gap is.
What this chart reads
- U.S. Recent College Graduates · Underemployment Rateas “Recent graduates (22 to 27)”behindlatest 2026-06-01
- U.S. College Graduates · Underemployment Rateas “All college graduates (22 to 65)”behindlatest 2026-06-01
Sources
U.S. Recent College Graduates · Underemployment Rate. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates (newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market), from the Current Population Survey (IPUMS) and U.S. Department of Labor O*NET. © Federal Reserve Bank of New York; content subject to the Terms of Use at newyorkfed.org. Updated quarterly; Palanor checks monthly.
U.S. College Graduates · Underemployment Rate. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates (newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market), from the Current Population Survey (IPUMS) and U.S. Department of Labor O*NET. © Federal Reserve Bank of New York; content subject to the Terms of Use at newyorkfed.org. Updated quarterly; Palanor checks monthly.
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