美国四年制大学毕业生在失业者中的占比首次达到25%，对应拥有学士学位者的失业人数超过190万，失业率在9月升至2.8%，较一年前上升0.5个百分点，而其他教育群体基本无显著变化。20至24岁人群的失业率升至9.2%，同比上升2.2个百分点，此幅度在历史上除衰退期外未曾出现。相较之下，年长劳动力的失业率仍低于4%，增幅有限。

裁员浪潮由大型企业推动，包括Amazon、Target与Starbucks；挑战者公司数据显示今年10月的裁员公告为20余年来最高，AI替代岗位成为主要动因。Verizon宣布裁减超过13,000名员工，目标削减非工会员工规模至多20%。专业与技术服务领域在今年前九个月出现净减员，而全国就业增长100%以上来自两个行业：医疗与社会援助及休闲与酒店业，共新增约690,000个岗位；扣除这两类后，全国就业减少约6,000人。

新毕业大学生遭遇“完美风暴”，联邦储备银行纽约行长Williams指出，他们原本应顺利进入劳动力市场，但今年未能如常发生。AI相关失业担忧因高学历人群失业攀升而加剧，白领招聘显著放缓。整体数据反映就业增长高度集中，其他行业普遍疲弱，就业结构性分化加深。

Americans with four-year degrees now account for a record 25% of all unemployed, with more than 1.9 million degree-holders jobless in September and their unemployment rate rising to 2.8%, up 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier; other education groups saw little change. Joblessness among those aged 20–24 reached 9.2%, a 2.2-point increase not seen outside recessions, while older workers’ unemployment remains below 4%.

Major corporations including Amazon, Target, and Starbucks have driven a wave of layoffs, with Challenger data showing October job-cut announcements at a 20-year high, fueled by AI-driven replacement. Verizon announced more than 13,000 cuts to shrink its non-union workforce by up to 20%. Professional and technical services posted net job losses in the first nine months of the year, while overall US job growth has come entirely from two sectors — health care and social assistance, and leisure and hospitality — which added a combined 690,000 jobs; excluding them, national employment fell by about 6,000.

Recent graduates face what Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams called a “perfect storm,” as the usual absorption of college grads into the labor market has not materialized. Rising unemployment among the educated is intensifying AI-related job-loss fears, reflecting a broad white-collar slowdown and increasingly polarized employment growth.