Washington
Muneeb Iqbal will graduate with a master’s degree in integrated design, business and technology from the University of Southern California next month, but he has no job or formal internship training, despite the 4,000 applications he made last year.
The 23-year-old told CNN that he noticed on LinkedIn that many of the entry-level roles he applied for were directed at people with several years of experience. Since starting school in 2024, Iqbal has managed to complete just one internship, he said — all while racking up $100,000 in student loans.
US job growth has slowed significantly in the past year, making it very difficult for young Americans not only to get their first job out of college but also to get internships, often the first step to a first job.
Doing internships or getting any kind of work experience “is a great precursor to getting a job out of college,” said Nicole Bachaud, an economist at ZipRecruiter. And these internships also help companies build pipelines for future talent.
“It’s a little disappointing,” Iqbal said. “If they keep hiring people with a lot of experience, they’re not going to have someone who will grow to that level.”
In recent months, Enrique Torres, an undergraduate student at Mount Olive University in North Carolina, has submitted nearly two dozen applications for internships, with no luck.
He needs to complete a 12-week course to graduate with his first degree in kinesiology and exercise science later this year. Torres said he could probably get a job on campus, but he would be missing out on the experience he wants.
“Better odds look better in your performance,” Torres said. But it’s not under my control, so I feel stressed.
The number of trainings followed by the area of work In fact last year they were down compared to the previous five years, they fell slightly below the levels of 2019. The highest share was pharmacy at 15.5%, and advertising accounted for 7.7% of the ads, followed by civil engineering with 5.3%.
And competition for internships has become fierce, too. Career development site Handshake reported a total of 109 applications for training posts in 2025, almost double from last year. Other industries posted even higher averages, such as 273 applications per post for technology, followed by 192 funds.
Fewer internship opportunities mean fewer opportunities for employment after graduation: About four-fifths of college graduates who worked during school were hired immediately after graduation, according to an estimate by ZipRecruiter, compared to only about 41% of graduates with no work experience.
Unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds was 6.4% in March, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from a four-year high of 9.2% reached in September but still above the national rate of 4.3%.
Young people are often among the first to be affected whenever the broader labor market takes a downturn. Employers added a strong 178,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But February saw a loss of 133,000 jobs, an average gain of 22,500 over the two months. Earlier this week, the government reported that the hiring rate fell in February to the slowest pace since 2011, barring a pandemic recession in 2020.
And the US-Israel war with Iran, which is entering its sixth week, could slow hiring, especially if the war continues.
Long-term effects on young people and companies
That training and prior employment are pressing issues for job seekers and employers.
The war “can also throw them (new cohorts) off their career path where they end up working in a different field than they originally intended,” said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor.
And employers may have to fill gaps in their talent pipeline by looking outside the company, Zhao said.
He added: “People who are in the company and who have matured over the years can be loyal to the company, intend to stay there, and then have the experience to jump ship.”
Even recent graduates with extensive experience are struggling.
Jessica Lopez, 27, graduated last year with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Arizona State University. While in college, he did four internships and nine fellowships, served as student government president and networked regularly, he said.
However, she has not been able to land a full-time position in health insurance marketing, despite more than 150 job applications. Lopez said she still lives with her mother in San Diego while working two part-time jobs.
“I networked a lot, especially in college when I did my part-time jobs, internships and relationships, and none of them really helped,” Lopez said.
“I’m hoping things will pick up a little bit more economically,” he said.
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