New York City, USA – Like clockwork each May, soon-to-be college graduates drift into New York City’s Washington Square Park in caps and gowns, typically in purple, the school colour of nearby New York University. A sea of mostly 20-somethings gather for photographs that mark the moment when the predictability of collegiate life comes to a close and new graduates face the uncertainty of what’s next.Julie Patel, who just finished a master’s degree in public health, was one of those graduates. But a tight job market has dampened the joy of the graduation ceremony.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“I think expectations of when I came into this programme and coming out of it in terms of a job search, funding and what’s available are two very different things,” Patel told Al Jazeera.Like millions of her peers around the country, she is headed into a precarious job market amid a surge in economic uncertainty driven by a range of reasons, including tariffs, the proliferation of artificial intelligence, global conflicts and, in her case, government funding cuts in her industry, slowing hiring, especially of new graduates.The most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that with 6.9 million open jobs in March, hirings increased marginally by 655,000 to 5.6 million, and separations were at 5.4 million. That means that …
