College Graduate Hiring Down 20 Percent From Pre-Pandemic Levels, With Health Fields Adding Jobs

Hiring of recent college graduates has declined 20 percent from December 2019 levels and 5 percent from last year, according to LinkedIn analysis reported by Forbes. The platform examined the 20 most common majors among U.S. students who earned bachelor’s degrees from 2022 to 2024 and secured full-time employment the following May.

Health majors recorded the strongest hiring conditions among the majors studied. The healthcare sector added 35,000 jobs in May 2026 and 37,000 jobs in April 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited in the report. Engineering majors faced the weakest conditions, with hiring down 25 percent from December 2019.

Roughly 75 percent of engineering graduates typically enter manufacturing, professional services, construction or technology industries. Technology recorded 123,653 announced job cuts in 2026, an increase of 66 percent from the same period last year. Versatility varied sharply by field.

Only 41 percent of engineering graduates worked outside their major’s top two industries. Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s Head of Economics, Americas, said engineering graduates encounter narrower options.

“Engineering is an area that is much more challenging today,” he said. He described social sciences and humanities graduates as occupying a “sweet spot” because more than half found work in other industries when traditional fields slowed. Kantenga noted that English majors benefit from communication skills that remain in demand.

“When I was in college, it was always this running joke that English majors would be unemployed and it turns out that communication is actually an essential skill for so many jobs that a lot of folks do not have,” he said.