Jeanina Banks, a recent graduate from Temple University, started applying for jobs in April, one month before she walked across the stage and received her bachelor’s degree in business administration. Yet with the hundreds of job applications submitted over three months, Banks said she has only heard from a handful of companies.

“Since I graduated in May, I felt like, since you’re coming out of college, you should have job opportunities rushing towards you, and it hasn’t been like that,” she said.

The entry-level jobs Banks found through Handshake, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter consist of door-to-door sales, working outside, and/or cold-calling potential customers. “Those are the kinds of opportunities where they are just trying to bring in anyone,” she said.

Another graduate, Eryn Waters, started applying for jobs in February, six months before her commencement last year. With an estimated 250 applications, the Temple finance graduate only heard back from 50 jobs and received offers from two. She now works and commutes to Baltimore a few days out of the week as a tax associate at CohnReznick.

Though the job hunting process did not go as smoothly as she hoped, Waters said she’s fortunate to have secured a job out of college. “It’s like an online dating profile,” she said. “You want them to swipe right.”

The effects of youth unemployment are causing economic hardships as Gen Zers — people born between 1997 and 2012 — face a reality of low-paying jobs, a difficult labor market to break into, and the increasing cost of living, especially in America’s sixth-largest city.

The hurdles that Banks, Waters, and others have experienced in landing work sound all too familiar to job experts, who are worried about the current state of employment for young applicants.

Age bias, the dismantling of DEI initiatives, and the rise of artificial intelligence are also factors, they said, which may widen the employment gap between racial groups.

Disparities,

Though there are no recent official statistics available specifically on the unemployment rate for Black Gen Zers in Philadelphia, Black/African-American and youth unemployment in Philadelphia are higher than in other racial and age groups.

A report by Accelerate Health Equity said Black Philadelphians are unemployed at more than double the rate of whites in the city. And according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gen Zers between the ages of 16 and 19 were over four times more likely to be unemployed in June 2025 than someone over 25.

Experts argue that manual labor-intensive jobs are being overwhelmed due to the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariff plans on various industries. Corporate office jobs are also becoming scarce because of the development and quick advancement of artificial intelligence, which saves companies money by eliminating job roles and not having to cover benefits for employees.

“You have a situation where hiring is slowing down because companies are hesitant and workers are concerned about the economy, so they’re not leaving their jobs and creating job openings,” said Adam Goldman, the executive director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project.

Trump’s administration has caused some frustration for the working class, experts have said, not only with trade wars, tariffs, and federal cuts, but with the federal removal of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which affect Black Americans of all age ranges.

“I did apply to a lot of graduate programs, but I feel like my applications have been turned down, especially because of the race question,” Banks said. “I have been putting in two or more races, and I haven’t been putting in that I’m African American.”

When it comes to job security, the disparity between the employment of white and Black job candidates has existed for more than 50 years, or at least when agencies started to record and report on labor statistics.

A recent Forbes report found that nearly 60% of new graduates considered Gen Zers were still looking for full-time work, compared to about 25% of previous generations.

And in addition to race, another concern for young job seekers is age bias, according to Goldman. “One major thing that’s always there is discrimination in the labor market,” he said. “There’s gobs of evidence that shows that there is bias in hiring decisions.”

According to a recent survey conducted by Intelligent.com, it was revealed that 1 in 4 hiring managers said Gen Zers are not prepared for the workforce. On a larger scale, 33% of hiring managers said that recent college graduates lack work ethic, 29% stated that they have a sense of entitlement, 28% believe that they aren’t motivated, and 20% blame a lack of basic communication skills.

This type of data comes as no shock, as millennials experienced similar hurdles a decade ago when they were the fresh, new faces hitting the workforce. However, Gen Zers face a unique disadvantage when it comes to the group’s workforce adaptability due to the global pandemic most endured during their educational development years.

In April 2020, due to the pandemic, unemployment reached an all-time high of around 14.8% as many businesses were forced to shut their doors and corporations switched their employees to remote access. On the contrary, most Gen Zers were still in school, whether it was middle school, high school, or college, and were isolated in online teaching for months.

As a result of isolation, there was a decline in social interaction and skills during pivotal adolescent growth, which is a challenge to build back up in adulthood, experts say.

“I think the demand from Gen Z is that they prefer the flexibility that resulted from COVID,” said Michael Robinson, Temple University’s director of community outreach and hiring. “One of the fallouts with that is that you lack the interaction to build on your social capital when it comes to networking with management and peers in person.”

Social interactions are one of the many elements that make up the perfect dream candidate for a hiring team, he said. The effects of the pandemic have also put a strain on maintaining eye contact, holding a conversation while potentially networking, creating an elevator pitch about yourself to prominent executives, and overall displaying your character to figures in the labor force.

“Build on your organic context because networking is the number one source of people finding work,” Robinson said.

Become a top

According to job experts, every job seeker’s main objective when hitting submit on their digital application is to make sure they are a top contender for that position. But how can applicants stand out among a sea of matching work seekers?

A resume and cover letter are one of the most important ingredients of the job hiring process that make or break a lot of candidates’ first impressions with a company. It documents a job seeker’s professional and educational background. It also lists professional skills an applicant has and their eligible certifications.

A cover letter is a one-page essay-style document that supports the resume and is more tailored to highlight the candidate’s qualifications in depth and what their motivating factor is when it comes to applying for the job.

“People come to us and their resumes don’t say half of what they know how to do,” said Myra Brown, CEO of NWON Opportunities. “If you look at most resumes, 95% of the time it’s work experience, and that’s the last thing we want to see. We want to see that professional summary, your education around that, skills, certifications, and training.”

Brown’s company, NWON Opportunities, is a career training network that assists many individuals, mainly young adults, with work readiness. They offer different resources such as workshops, resume revisions, and industry-based training for proper job-seeking preparation.

NWON also teams up with Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Office of Clean and Green to run the Future Track Program, which is a nine-month paid program that helps unemployed young adults develop job experience and skills through public service work such as cleaning up alleys around Philadelphia.

“If you have 10 jobs under your belt and seven of those jobs are related to the job you’re applying to, emphasize those seven and then minimize the type of details you’re providing for the three that don’t apply,” Robinson said.

Sociability is a leading trait in any job interview and helps make someone stand out. It is important to do research on the company and the person interviewing. It’s also important, experts said, to ask questions at the end of the interview to take it a step further, and show your interest and overall care.

“People need to ramp up and develop skills that are going to be marketable in the future,” Robinson said. “Being that Philadelphia is an education, medicine, hospitality, and construction city, those are the big categories of jobs here.”

There are also careers for people who decide against attending college, like the School District of Philadelphia’s Career and Technical Education programs, which are available at 30 high schools across the city. Students are often paired with jobs after graduation in fields like business, construction, and culinary arts.

Though her job hunt has come with challenges, Banks said she still feels getting a four-year college degree was worth it. She also suggests applicants do their research on a company to see if its mission aligns with their morals and what they want to do in life. Banks remains hopeful.

“In 2025, a bachelor’s degree is kind of like a high school diploma, and then getting your master’s degree is kind of like getting your bachelor’s degree,” Banks said. “A bachelor’s is the first step, but you definitely need a master’s to help you stand out.”

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