Following the post-pandemic labor market boom, advanced economies are now experiencing a synchronized economic downturn, one that is hitting recent graduates particularly hard. During the inflationary surge a few years ago, central banks hiked interest rates across the world from close to zero during the pandemic to well above 4%. Contractionary monetary policy has also weighed on economic growth and the labor market over the last couple of years. Additionally, extreme economic uncertainty due to the trade war, geopolitical conflicts and a global industrial slowdown have also affected the jobs market around the world.
While most advanced economies are still