Gen Z may be trashing degrees as a waste, but U.S. Labor Statistics data points to a stubborn reality: among workers aged 25 and over, bachelor’s degree holders have the lowest unemployment rates of any education group—even compared with the same trend seen in
For the third year in a row, degrees are taking a beating online—on TikTok, in group chats, and in comment sections where young adults trade stories about rent, student loans, and the sense that “doing everything right” still doesn’t lead to the same stability their parents once found.
But a look at U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data cuts through the noise. Among workers aged 25 and over, people with a bachelor’s degree have the lowest unemployment rate of any education group.
That’s not a small advantage. The pattern shows up clearly when unemployment is compared across education levels: people without a high school diploma face the highest risk of being out of work, with jobless rates more than twice those of college grads. Everyone else lands somewhere in between.
The most striking part is that it doesn’t look like a temporary spike. Back in 2019—before the pandemic. and before ChatGPT remade parts of hiring—college grads were already at the bottom of the unemployment chart. And the same holds true when the timeline goes back further: in 2006. when the data starts. unemployment for people without a high school diploma sat at 6.9%. compared with 2.2% for college grads. In early 2026, the comparison looks similar: 6.4% versus roughly 2.8%.
Put simply, the economy may keep changing its shape, but unemployment risk tied to education has stayed stubbornly consistent. A degree may be losing its shine for many young adults—but the data still places it at the safest end of the unemployment chart.
And that’s why the online backlash feels so sharp. Even if the numbers show graduates are less likely to be unemployed, many graduates say they’re not living the dream they were promised.
On paper, bachelor’s degree holders are better protected against unemployment. In daily life, the gap can feel smaller than it looks—because underpaid work, squeezed budgets, and mounting costs can make “employed” feel like a narrow kind of survival.
A viral TikTok video captured that frustration directly. Robbie Scott, a Gen Zer, slammed baby boomers for failing to understand the crisis his generation faces, arguing that highly educated young people can’t afford the same milestones previous cohorts took for granted.
“We need to stop expecting the same damn people who bought a four-bedroom home and a brand-new Cadillac convertible off of a $30. 000-a-year salary to understand what it’s like to be working 40-plus hours a week with a master’s degree and still not being able to afford a 400-square-foot studio apartment in bumf-ck Iowa. ” Robbie Scott said.
“We’re staying in school. We’re going to college. We’ve been working since we were 15, 16 years old…doing everything that y’all told us to do so that we can what? Still be living in our parents’ homes in our late twenties?”
That emotional mismatch—less unemployment, more frustration—helps explain why the degree debate has turned into something bigger than career advice. It’s about adulthood itself.
At the same time. many young adults are watching leaders warn that AI could reshape work in ways that make corporate careers less predictable. The concern has been that AI could kill all corporate jobs and create a “huge boom” in blue-collar work. driven by the sudden need for data centers to power the technology.
Even so, the immediate labor-market numbers still point to degrees as a protective buffer.
Bachelor’s degree holders earn about 66% more per week than high school graduates. And when the conversation turns to the highest-paying roles. research from Ladders—the career site for six-figure jobs—found that degree requirements have the biggest impact on top-tier salaries. According to that research, top jobs paying $200,000 or more overwhelmingly require advanced degrees.
There’s another contradiction inside the hiring process that doesn’t always show up in job ads: even when companies say they want to be more flexible, the reality can be slower.
Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple have scrapped degree requirements to be more inclusive. But Goodwill CEO Steve Preston said the day-to-day picture looks different. “The top says we need to do this. ” he previously told Fortune. “but when it gets to the hiring professionals. it doesn’t always trickle down.”.
In other words: a job posting might not require a degree, but a hiring manager can still want one. And the data suggests that, despite shifts in how degrees are advertised, the relationship between education and unemployment hasn’t changed in at least 20 years of records.
The conclusion many young adults are drawing on TikTok—that degrees are “useless”—is understandable when you’re staring at monthly bills and stalled milestones. But the labor statistics show a different truth in the background: graduates may feel trapped or underpaid. yet they remain the least likely to be out of work.
Degrees may not be the golden ticket they were marketed as.
They still, however, lower the odds of unemployment in a way the rest of the education ladder can’t match.
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