A recent Fortune article by Eleanor Pringle, highlighting the alarming rise in unemployment among recent college graduates, underscores a growing crisis that institutions of higher education can no longer afford to ignore. With the jobless rate for bachelor’s degree holders spiking to 6.1%—and even higher for those with advanced degrees or some college but no degree—this trend is more than a post-pandemic ripple. It’s a signal that the college-to-career pipeline is faltering, especially for Gen Z.
But while the numbers tell one story, the public narrative is increasingly shaped by powerful voices in American business—voices like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Home Depot’s Ted Decker, and Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner. These executives have become some of the most visible champions of “skills over degrees,” calling for a shift in focus from academic credentials to job readiness and alternative career paths.
We would do well, however, to approach their arguments with caution.
Elite Narratives in a Neoliberal Economy
Dimon, Decker, and Furner are not wrong to critique a higher education system that too often overpromises and underdelivers. They are correct to point out that the U.S. has neglected non-degree pathways and vocational training. But their critiques also reflect a broader neoliberal ideology—one that places the burden of employability on the individual while absolving employers and policymakers of structural responsibility.
In this framework, it's not the economy that fails young graduates—it's graduates who fail to align themselves with market demands. It's not corporations underinvesting in training or offering substandard wages—it's colleges miseducating and students mischoosing. These narratives, while seductive in their simplicity, risk obscuring deeper systemic issues: wage stagnation, job precarity, labor casualization, and the erosion of worker protections.
Dimon’s call to “measure schools by whether students get jobs” is emblematic of this thinking. It reduces education to a transaction and a worker pipeline—ignoring the broader civic, intellectual, and ethical missions of higher learning. Meanwhile, companies like JPMorgan, Home Depot, and Walmart have long histories of low-wage employment and union resistance. Their newfound concern for youth opportunity must be understood in the context of maintaining control over the terms of labor.
A System Out of Sync
Still, the data is troubling. Young graduates are struggling, and even those who find work are often underemployed—working jobs that do not require their degrees and offer limited upward mobility. The system, as it currently functions, is out of sync with both the labor market and student expectations.
But if college is failing to deliver secure employment, it’s not because education has too many ideals. It’s because the broader economy has too few guarantees. Young workers are increasingly caught in a no-win situation: Take on crushing student debt to chase credentials that may not yield career security—or forgo college and risk being excluded from many white-collar opportunities altogether.
A Different Conversation
The calls from corporate elites to “rethink” college are not entirely misplaced—but they are incomplete and self-serving. We must instead ask: What kind of economy do we want for young people? One where education is a public good and decent work is a right? Or one where economic survival hinges on which company-approved credential a person has managed to obtain?
Policymakers, educators, and advocates must seize this moment to widen the conversation. We need expanded public investment in both college and non-college pathways. We need labor reforms that strengthen worker protections and bargaining power. And we need to challenge the idea that economic justice can be achieved solely through personal skill acquisition.
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