WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Over two years, Rebecca Atkins filed more than 250 job applications, and felt like every one was going into a gaping chasm — one opened by the highest unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the US in more than a decade.

“It was extremely dispiriting,” said the 25-year-old, who graduated in 2022 with a degree in law and justice from a university in the US capital Washington.

“I was convinced that I was a terrible person, and terrible at working.”

At 5.8 percent, unemployment for young, recent graduates from US universities is higher than it has been since November 2013, excluding 15 months in the Covid pandemic.

And while overall US unemployment has stabilized between around 3.5 and 4 percent post-pandemic, unemployment for recent college graduates is only trending higher.

The labor market for new grads has weakened consistently since 2022, with new hiring down 16 percent in 2025, year-over-year, according to payroll firm Gusto.

Analysts say the trend is likely a result of cyclical post-pandemic hiring slowdowns — particularly in new-grad-heavy sectors like technology, finance, and business information — and overall economic uncertainty in the tumultuous early days of the Trump administration.