Summarised by Centrist
According to a new Newsweek report, recent computer science and engineering graduates are now among the most unemployed, despite years of being told they held the keys to the future.
Data from the New York Federal Reserve reveals recent computer science grads have a 6.1 percent unemployment rate, and computer engineers are worse off at 7.5 percent. Both are higher than the average 5.8 percent across all recent grads. Once hailed as a sure bet, computer science now ranks as the seventh-worst field for employment. Only anthropology and physics majors are faring worse.
Ironically, journalism grads, widely seen as victims of a dying industry, are doing better, with just 4.4 percent unemployment.
“We’ve overproduced degrees without addressing how exploitative and gatekept the tech hiring pipeline has become,” said HR consultant Bryan Driscoll.
“Entry-level roles are vanishing, unpaid internships are still rampant, and companies are offshoring or automating the very jobs these grads trained for.”
That automation includes AI. As the tech industry cuts engineering budgets and trims headcounts, it is turning to large language models and automation tools that can outpace junior hires.
“Every kid with a laptop thinks they’re the next Zuckerberg,” said personal finance writer Michael Ryan.
“But most can’t debug their way out of a paper bag.” He called the ‘learn to code’ boom a “gold rush mentality… right as the gold ran out.”
