In July 2025, the U.S. unemployment rate was at 4.2% — which, historically speaking, is rather low. But that doesn’t mean that all job seekers are thriving.
An NBC News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data finds that the unemployment rate among men ages 23 to 30 with a bachelor’s degree has reached 6%. By comparison, the unemployment rate among women with a bachelor’s degree in that same age range is 3.5%.
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During the pandemic, the term “she-cession” was created to illustrate just how unfavorable the economy was for working women at the time. Now, with many young men struggling to find work, the term “he-cession” has started gaining traction in the media.
Emanuel Barcenas knows first hand just how bad things are for educated young men. Two years after graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology with a computer science bachelor’s degree, Barcenas is still unemployed and living with his parents, NBC News reports. In fact, he’s gotten only a handful of interviews despite applying to more than 900 jobs.
“I want to be an adult,” said Barcenas. “I need to lock in, I need to move forward, but right now, I’m just stunted. I’m trying my best, but I guess my best isn’t good enough.”
The U.S. Census Bureau data also shows that young men with a bachelor’s degree are more likely to be unemployed than young men with only a high school diploma. Young women, on the other hand, are much more likely to be employed if they have a bachelor’s degree than those with just a high school education.
If you’re a young male seeking a job, it’s important to understand the reasons behind this trend — and what you can do to increase your chances of getting hired.
Why young men are struggling to find work
As NBC News reports, there are a few reasons why young men may be struggling in today’s labor market. For one thing, tech has long been a male-dominated field, but the tech industry has also experienced high levels of unemployment this year and last.
TrueUp reports that since the start of 2025, there have been 484 layoffs at tech companies impacting more than 136,000 people. That’s following a brutal 2024, during which time tech companies had 1,115 layoffs that impacted more than 238,000 people.
Part of the issue is that tech companies hired aggressively during the pandemic to capitalize on the need to go digital to support social distancing. Once things eventually normalized, these tech companies had a surplus of workers on their hands and have been making cuts ever since.
Another trend that NBC News notes is that in recent years, a lot of the growth in the U.S. labor market has been driven by the social services and health care industries. These industries are dominated by women, with roughly 80% of employees being female.
Of course, it’s worth noting that recent college graduates as a whole are facing a very challenging job market.
"The job market is tough, it’s competitive,” Christine Cruzvergara, chief education officer at Handshake, shared with PBS. “We’ve seen in our data that jobs are down 15% from last year, but applications are up 30%."
Cruzvergara also pointed out that Artificial Intelligence may be taking over some of the entry-level jobs that young applicants would otherwise be getting.
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How young men can get hired in today’s market
Being subjected to a prolonged job hunt is not easy — especially if you’re a recent college graduate who’s eager to get ahead of your student loans. One thing Cruzvergara suggested was that job seekers find a support network, as it can help to have people to commiserate as well as strategize with.
Cruzvergara also suggested that younger job seekers try to upskill, which means learning new skills and pairing them with whatever degrees they’ve obtained to remain competitive. Furthermore, Cruzvergara said young job seekers today should remember that their first job won’t necessarily be their forever job, so they should be prepared to be flexible.
To this end, it could pay for young men to consider entering fields that are traditionally female dominated — like health care and education — if it means gaining work experience and a much-needed paycheck.
There are also some steps that anyone searching for a job can take to increase their chances of getting an offer. These include:
- Networking extensively
- Learning to work with AI instead of fighting it
- Building a strong professional online presence, like a thorough LinkedIn profile and/or online portfolio if applicable
- Attending career fairs and events
- Looking into relevant certifications to boost credentials
The good news is that the U.S. unemployment rate is expected to remain fairly stable in the coming months. The Federal Reserve projects that unemployment could reach the 4.3% to 4.6% range by 2026, which is not such a drastic jump from where it is today.
Still, that modest uptick means it could become even harder for young males — and job seekers in general — to find work in the new year. Those who are looking for jobs should continue to search aggressively, as frustrating a process as that may be.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.