Over 2 million college students are set to graduate this spring—but instead of the corporate career they imagined, many could end up in trades. That’s because the fastest-growing industries for fresh-faced grads right now include construction and mining. They’ll be working alongside Gen Z tradies who are making sizable salaries minus student loans.
It’s graduation season. For students, it’s finally time to address the elephant in the room: “What’s next?”
Many will be faced with an uncomfortable reality: Despite pining on joining the corporate world, their best chance at landing work could be on the very same construction sites their classmates skipped college to join.
That’s because construction, utilities, oil, gas, and mining are the top fields where new grads may find the best success at launching their careers, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Grad Guide.
And with roles like AI engineer, datacenter technician, and system engineer being the most popular, Gen Z are still likely to be working in the office in these industries, but they may be envious of their blue-collar colleagues making sizable salaries—minus around $40,000 in student loans and worries about AI replacing them.
Some skilled trade professionals, like elevator and escalator installers, can even bring home over $100k per year and only a high school diploma is required to get started.
Seeing the shifting demands, over half of all Gen Z are now considering a career in the skilled trades industry.
The top 10 fastest-growing industries for new grads
Construction
Utilities
Oil, gas, and mining
Financial services
Wholesale
Entertainment providers
Administrative and support services
Real estate
Professional services
Education
According to LinkedIn
The top 10 fastest-growing job titles for new grads
Artificial intelligence engineer
Law clerk
Datacenter technician
System engineer
Financial planning and analysis specialist
Business development representative
Administrative analyst
Product associate
Service desk specialist
Clinician
According to LinkedIn
A tough time to be a graduate—and on the job hunt
The class of 2025 is set to enter the job market at a less-than-ideal time. Not only do graduates have to contend with competing against each other, but they also now have to fight for roles against more experienced bachelor’s degree holders who may have been fired by their bosses or laid off in an era of tech downsizing and DOGE cuts. In the first three months of 2025, the unemployment rate of recent college graduates aged 22 through 27 rose by one percent to 5.8%—the highest level since the pandemic.
This has all culminated in some 4 million young adults who have been deemed NEETS (not in education, employment, or training), and this number is only set to rise this summer as jobless graduates are forced to move back home with their parents.
Degrees themselves are partly to blame, some say, including top business leaders like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“I’m not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today. I think that there’s a big issue on that, and all the student debt issues are…really big,” Zuckerberg said on the This Past Weekend podcast with Theo Von.
However, this is not all to say that every college grad will come up dry on their job search this year. Some AI career paths in particular can have above-average return-on-investment, including salaries reaching over $500k just with a bachelor’s degree and a few years of experience.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
