U.S. College Graduates · Underemployment Rate

## What this measures

The share of working college graduates (aged 22 to 65 with a bachelor's degree or higher, not in school) whose job typically does not require a degree, by the same O*NET rule the NY Fed uses for recent graduates. Monthly from January 1990, seasonally adjusted and smoothed with a three-month moving average.

## Why it matters

It is the settled-career baseline for recent graduates' underemployment: how many graduates end up in non-degree jobs once early-career moves are done.

## How to read it

Read it beside labor.nyfed.recent_grads.underemployment_rate. It moves slowly; a sustained change says something about the supply of graduate jobs across the economy, not just at entry.

## What it does not say

It classifies occupations, not people, and a fixed classification does not follow jobs as they change. October 2025 is estimated by the NY Fed because the survey was not collected that month. The NY Fed revises the history when it updates.

## 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.