Recent graduates’ weak job prospects appear tied more to remote work than to AI, with New York Fed research finding unemployment rose relative to older workers in jobs that can be done remotely.
A four-fold increase in remote work since the pandemic has made training, feedback and workplace socialization harder for inexperienced hires, reducing employers’ willingness to bring them on.
Evidence cited against the AI-blame narrative includes Handshake data showing more than 10% of internship postings mentioned AI by March 2026, while AI-related full-time postings reached 4.2% after nearly doubling year over year.
Strada’s survey of nearly 1,500 executives found employers were 2.7 times more likely to expect AI to increase entry-level hiring than to reduce it, though AI is shifting junior roles toward more analytical work.
The report argues college still pays off, but schools should pair liberal-arts skills with internships, co-ops and other work-based learning because work experience was Strada’s strongest indicator of career readiness.