Businessweek Daily

The Class of 2026 Enters a Tough Job Market

Getting hired for the first time isn’t easy, and AI complicates the picture.

More than 2 million students graduating this year will feel tremendous pressure to land their first job.Photographer: Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

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By Bloomberg News

April 17, 2026 at 4:16 PM UTC

This article is part of the May 1, 2026 issue of businessweek.

In this edition of Businessweek Daily, we’re featuring stories about first jobs from the May issue of the magazine. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, click here to sign up. Let us know what you think by emailing our editor. You can also subscribe to get the print edition.

As graduation season approaches, we talked to college students and recent grads from around the country about the challenges they face in getting hired against a backdrop of rising unemployment—and underemployment. Is it any wonder then that rich parents are ponying up for fancy career coaches for their kids? Or that Gen Z is avoiding the job search by applying to grad school or launching their own startups, even before collecting their diploma? AI is obviously on everyone’s mind, especially young tech workers in India. Maybe advice from today’s CEOs can help ease the pain—or maybe we should all be worried about our jobs.