Key Points:
- Internship postings are down compared to previous years, falling below 2019 levels.
- Most jobs requiring less than a year’s experience are concentrated in in-person sectors.
- The level of overall job postings is higher than pre-pandemic levels in a small majority (57%) of sectors, though 27% of those sectors are in healthcare-related industries.
Our monthly Labor Market Update examines important trends using Indeed and other labor market data. Our US Labor Market Overview chartbook provides a more comprehensive view of the US labor market. Data from our Job Postings Index — which stood 8% above its pre-pandemic baseline as of April 4 — and the Indeed Wage Tracker (including sector-level data) are regularly updated and can be accessed on our data portal.
As the class of 2025 prepares to don their caps and tassels, they’re stepping into a labor market marked by extraordinary uncertainty. While headline job numbers may still appear strong, these figures are both backward-looking and disproportionately buoyed by growth in just a handful of sectors, notably healthcare and social services. So where should new grads be looking to start their careers? While most knowledge work sectors are struggling and internships are waning, there may still be a few bright spots in the economy to turn to — though likely not as many as in recent years.
Internship opportunities, a key entry point for many students and recent grads, typically see a sharp rise in postings at the start of spring. That seasonal surge has been strong in recent years relative to January 1, 2019, but this year postings are starting to fall behind. As of April 3 of this year, internships were just below April 3 of 2019, but 11 percentage points below the same date in 2024. Although internship postings are still above 2020 levels, that gap is starting to narrow, reflecting the labor market’s cooling demand for workers overall.
Getting a foot in the door
By a wide margin, the sector with the highest share of postings advertising internship opportunities is the Pharmacy segment — which makes sense, as an internship is often a necessary first step to obtaining a full pharmacy license. Marketing comes in a distant second, with 7.7% of postings offering internship opportunities, followed closely by civil engineering (5.3%) and media & communications (5%).
Competition for full-time roles in these industries remains fierce — but securing an internship can offer a crucial foothold, often serving as a pipeline to permanent employment. But in cases where an internship isn’t available or not the right career fit, finding a role that does not require substantial previous experience can be another way for new grads to gain practical skills and income while they figure out their next steps.
These entry-level roles are primarily concentrated in in-person and often lower-paying sectors. Food service (17.8% of postings require less than one year of experience), driving (16.8%), and sanitation (16.7%) top the list, reflecting continued demand for essential services that require generalized skills over formal education or specialized training. While these jobs may not always align with graduates’ long-term career goals, they can serve as valuable opportunities to build a work history.
Personal care and home health roles (16.4%) come in fourth, comprising largely healthcare-related positions including caregivers, home health aides, and personal assistants. With an aging population and growing demand for in-home medical support, this sector continues to offer steady employment.
Outside healthcare, fewer opportunities to choose from
But while healthcare roles remain in high demand, opportunities in many other sectors are more scarce than they were immediately prior to the pandemic. While the level of sector-specific postings was above pre-pandemic levels in a majority (57%) of sectors tracked by Indeed as of early April, of those sectors, 27% were healthcare-related.
Beyond healthcare, a few knowledge work sectors also stand out as exceptions to the broader cooling trend. Civil engineering jobs continue to be in higher demand than they were prior to the pandemic, as well as jobs in the legal sector. Demand for management roles — including project management — remains strong as well. This suggests that even in a weaker hiring environment, organizations are still investing in leadership and coordination.
The unemployment rate of young graduates, specifically those with a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 25-34, is lower than the overall unemployment rate across the entire labor force. However, their unemployment rate is higher than the rate observed among the broader population of bachelor’s degree holders. The two rates were closer in the years immediately after the pandemic, but have become more volatile in recent years, with the gap widening on average. This suggests that younger degree holders may be struggling slightly more than usual to get a foothold in the job market in recent years, although the unemployment rate for new graduates remains low.
Conclusion
New graduates are entering the job market at a time when the future is murky and many pathways for career entry are less reliable. While some sectors continue to offer opportunities, job openings are increasingly concentrated in fields that may not align with every grad’s aspirations.
Navigating this landscape will require persistence, adaptability, and an understanding that the current job market is anything but predictable. The class of 2025 will need to be prepared to adapt to shifting opportunities while facing the reality of a tighter, more competitive job market.
Methodology
We define internship job postings as those in which ‘intern’ or ‘internship’ appears in the title, calculating a seven-day moving average. Data is not adjusted for seasonality.
We track experience requirements by tallying US job postings on Indeed that mention experience requirements of less than one year in the job description as of April 4, 2025, calculating a seven-day moving average. Data is not adjusted for seasonality.
Data on seasonally adjusted Indeed job postings are an index of the number of job postings on a given day, using a seven-day trailing average. February 1, 2020, is our pre-pandemic baseline, so the index is set to 100 on that day. Data for several dates in 2021 and 2022 are missing and were interpolated.
The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.
