Speaking at a Catholic Congress panel in Wuerzburg, Merz said admiration for the U.S. was “not growing,” adding that highly educated workers now faced difficulty finding jobs compared with a year ago.<\/p>\n
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“I am a great admirer of America. My admiration isn’t growing at the moment,” he said. “So, I wouldn’t recommend to my children today that they go to the U.S., get an education there, and work there. Simply because of a social climate that has suddenly developed there.”<\/p>\n
“By the way, the question of what well-educated young people can achieve used to be answered very differently in America up until a year ago than it is today,” he continued. “Today, the best-educated in America have great difficulty finding a job.”<\/p>\n
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email on Friday morning for comment. <\/p>\n
U.S. Job Market: Mixed Signals for Highly Educated Workers<\/p>\n
Recent data suggests Merz\u2019s remarks reflect a real but more limited trend affecting young, highly educated workers entering the U.S. job market. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has risen above the overall rate, with many also working in roles that do not require a degree, pointing to a more difficult transition from education to employment than in previous years. <\/p>\n
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York<\/a> show unemployment among recent college graduates at about 5.7% in early 2026, with more than 40% underemployed in roles that do not typically require a degree.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people are bearing the brunt of a lot of economic uncertainty\u2026 The people that you often are most hesitant in hiring\u2026 are entry-level positions,\u201d Brad Hersbein, a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute, told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n At the same time, economists say the broader labor market remains relatively strong for skilled workers overall, who still tend to have lower unemployment and better long-term prospects than less-educated groups. Analysts describe the shift as a softening in entry-level hiring and changing workforce dynamics rather than a collapse in opportunity, suggesting a more nuanced picture than Merz\u2019s comments imply.<\/p>\n \u201cBy many measures, the labor market is still relatively strong,\u201d Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, recently told CNBC, adding that the slowdown has been concentrated in entry-level hiring.<\/p>\n Merz Says He’s Aligned With Trump on Iran, Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n Merz also said on Friday, following a phone call, that he and Trump agreed that Iran must return to negotiations, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n Merz said he spoke with Trump as the U.S. president traveled back from China, signaling an easing of recent tensions<\/a> between Washington and Berlin.<\/p>\n On X, Merz wrote that the two leaders also discussed a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine and coordinated positions ahead of a NATO<\/a> summit in Ankara, Turkey, adding that the United States and Germany remained “strong partners in a strong NATO.”<\/p>\n Last month, Merz said the leadership in Tehran\u00a0is humiliating U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s administration, the\u00a0strongest criticism yet by the country at the heart of the European Union, G7 and NATO of the\u00a0United States’ approach to the war in Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” Merz\u00a0said\u00a0during a school visit in Marsberg, a town in his home region of Sauerland.<\/p>\n He added, “A\u00a0whole nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump then sharply criticized Merz, saying that the German leader is willing to tolerate a nuclear\u2011armed Iran. In a\u00a0post on Truth Social<\/a>, Trump said Merz \u201cthinks it\u2019s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,\u201d adding that the chancellor \u201cdoesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump Vows Deeper Troop Cuts in Germany as NATO Tensions Rise<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s pledge to scale back U.S. troop levels in Germany has renewed focus on America\u2019s military role in Europe.<\/p>\n The United States typically maintains between 80,000 and 100,000 troops across the continent, including more than 36,000 stationed in Germany. <\/p>\n The Pentagon announced earlier this month it would withdraw about 5,000 troops, and Trump said the following day he planned to go \u201ca lot further.\u201d The U.S. has also stopped a planned rotation<\/a> of more than 4,000 American troops en route to Poland.<\/p>\n