SALT LAKE CITY — Recent graduates looking to find work in Salt Lake City may need to expand their search outside city limits if they hope to snag a job.
A new report from ADP Research sampled dozens of the country’s biggest metro areas, and focused on three different factors: wages, affordability, and hiring rate among people aged 20-29. Salt Lake City was rock-bottom on the list, with below-median wages and affordability.
The study found just a 2 percent hiring rate in Salt Lake City in 2025.
While Salt Lake City ranked dead last, Birmingham, AL, Tampa and San Jose, CA were the top 3 cities for students to find employment after graduation.
Seth Jenson directs Utah Valley University's Baugh Entrepreneurship Institute, which helps students build their own revenue-generating businesses, and said they've noticed that traditionally safe pathways into jobs in various fields are no longer viable.
According to Jensen, overlapping layers of uncertainty, from international issues impacting supply chains to the evolution of AI, are making employers less likely to take a bet on a newcomer.
However, Jenson admits the challenges are not unique to Utah, and he expects the Beehive State to rebound with help from the state's strong economy.
“For the first time ever, we see unemployment rates among new college grads being the same or exceeding that of the general public. That’s rare," Jenson explained. "Usually, you get out of college, and you’re more likely to land that job.
“But we’re productive as an economy, and our networks allow for motivated young people to be able to embed themselves in places to be productive.”
With the uncertainty recent graduates are facing as they start searching for jobs, Jenson implores them to remember the skill sets they learned in school and the unique passions for their particular field that can set them apart in the hiring process.
