College-educated workers flooding low-wage service roles

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More than 90% of lifeguards, bartenders, cashiers and postal workers now hold college degrees, according to a new report that finds a widening mismatch between graduate credentials and available jobs in a white-collar market squeezed by artificial intelligence and economic uncertainty.

The Overeducated Workforce Report from MyPerfectResume, published Tuesday, analyzed Census Bureau education data alongside Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections and wage figures. It found that college graduates currently fill between 68% and 95% of service jobs paying $29,000 to $40,000 annually — roles that typically require no more than a high school diploma and no prior experience.

More than nine in 10 telemarketers, shampooers, movie projectionists, restaurant hostesses, physical therapist aides and amusement park attendants now hold college degrees, the report found. More than 80% of bellhops, receptionists, delivery drivers, parking attendants, hotel clerks and retail service staff are also college-educated. Three in four salespeople earning a median $35,300 annually graduated from college, as did 69% of couriers earning $38,070 a year.

Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at MyPerfectResume, said the findings confirm a growing misalignment between the job market and the talent pool. She attributed part of the problem to AI-powered job search tools that have flooded employers with applications, making it harder to identify top candidates and pushing highly qualified workers into roles beneath their skill level.

“This creates a ripple effect across the market, with roles that should be entry- or mid-level being filled by more experienced talent,” Ms. Escalera said.

Workforce experts told The Washington Times that AI has accelerated the hollowing out of middle-management roles that graduates once filled, while employers increasingly list clerical positions requiring experience but not degrees. New York University marketing instructor Angelica Gianchandani said the result has left graduates “stranded” at the bottom of a career structure that no longer has a middle through which to advance.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that 5.6% of college graduates ages 22 to 27 were unemployed at the end of last year — well above the national 4.2% unemployment rate. Among recent graduates who did find work, more than 40% held jobs not requiring a degree, the highest share since 2020.

The average underemployed graduate earns roughly $45,000 annually, compared to $65,000 for graduates working in degree-matched fields, according to economist Siri Terjesen of Florida Atlantic University. That income gap, she said, compounds over a career and makes student loan repayment significantly harder.

Meanwhile, public confidence in higher education has eroded sharply. A Gallup poll found that just 35% of adults considered a college degree “very important” last year, down from 75% in 2010. College admissions offices are bracing for a 15% drop in applicants this spring, driven partly by a long-term decline in U.S. birth rates since 2008.

Some economists argued the system has long used degree requirements as a blunt screening tool for jobs that never needed them. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce projects that nearly a third of annual job openings through 2031 will require credentials but not degrees — a signal, some experts said, that the higher education model must adapt or risk further irrelevance.

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