- Exclusive: Job-seekers are applying to twice as many jobs this year as they did in 2024, as “ghost jobs,” AI agents, and a fiercely competitive labor market throw a wrench in the American Dream. And those with master’s degrees are having a rough go of it, as they’re sending out up to 60 applications per month, compared with bachelor’s degree holders, who are applying to around 38 roles a month. With graduates frozen out of the workforce, many are left questioning if their degrees were a “waste of money.”
Going to college and getting a degree was once a ticket to white-collar success—but now graduates are up against “ghost jobs,” AI agents, and a fiercely competitive labor market. Job-seekers are sending out large numbers of applications to try to land a gig, and even people with multiple degrees are having a hard time.
Job-hunters sent out an average of 45 job applications per month in May 2025, according to data shared exclusively with Fortune from employment platform Simplify, which tracked its 1 million job-seeking users and 150 million applications over the past year. That’s more than double last year’s average of 22 job applications—a surge that shows just how difficult the job market has become.
But the situation was even more dire for professionals with multiple degrees, despite going above and beyond expectations to achieve the American Dream. Master’s students sent out an average of 32 to 60 job applications per month, while bachelor’s students typically applied to around 15 to 38 open roles.
Even those who studied college majors that once guaranteed six-figure salaries are having to work harder to land a gig. Computer science graduates are sending out an average of 22 to 51 applications monthly, compared to non-computer science majors applying to 21 to 41 gigs.
The fierce job market competition for highly lucrative roles like computer science should come as no surprise. Computer programmer employment has dropped to its lowest level since 1980—before the internet even existed—as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that AI can now even do the coding work of mid-level engineers. Instead of humans competing with one another, they’re now vying for roles as AI takes over the work of entry-level jobs.
They could be applying to ghost jobs
As well as an extremely competitive white-collar job market—as AI continues to come for more entry-level roles—hiring managers aren’t making it any easier on job-hunters: One common thread is candidates applying to over 1,000 roles, only to receive radio silence.
About 81% of recruiters say that their employer posts “ghost jobs,” positions that either don’t exist or are already filled, according to a 2024 report from MyPerfectResume. Common HR reasoning for posting these fake listings include maintaining a presence on job boards when they aren’t hiring, assessing the effectiveness of their job descriptions, and wanting to build a talent pool for the future. But job-hunters are fed up with being left in the dark.
“We often hear job-seekers saying, ‘I’m tired, I’m depressed, I’m desperate,’ using these very harsh words when it comes to the job market,” Jasmine Escalera, a career expert for MyPerfectResume, told Fortune. “This is one of the reasons why they are losing faith in organizations and companies.”
The majority of job applicants say employers have flat-out ghosted them, according to a 2024 Greenhouse report. And on the flip side, they’re also being “love bombed” during the process. Over half of candidates say interviewers showered them with excessive praise and flattery during hiring rounds, only to be offered a low salary and unfit job title.
Now, Gen Zers say their degrees are a ‘waste of money’
Fresh-faced graduates are being frozen out of the workforce; about 58% of students who graduated within the past year are still looking for their first job, according to a recent report from Kickresume. The labor market and hiring situation have become so bad that more than a third of all graduates now say their degree was a “waste of money,” according to a 2025 survey from Indeed.
Gen Z graduates are so massively unemployed, despite making up only 5% of the workforce, that they’re even pushing up the U.S. jobless rate—having an “oversize” impact on America’s unemployment rate.
The youngest generation of workers is especially downtrodden by their prospects, with 51% expressing remorse for getting their certificates, compared to 41% of millennials and 20% of baby boomers.
