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The underemployment of recent post-secondary graduates remains a persistent and serious issue in both Canada and the United States. Underemployment refers to the situation in which individuals with a bachelor’s degree are employed in positions that do not require that level of training, skill or credential (Hanson et al., 2024). It also includes part-time workers who would prefer full-time employment (Macdonald, 2019), a common circumstance for many recent graduates. Career development educators occupy important roles in addressing college underemployment (Buford & Stebleton, 2025).
In Canada, underemployment has been a recurring theme over the past five decades of higher education research (Holmes, 2021). Statistics Canada’s 2025 National Graduates Survey reported that 41.2% of bachelor’s degree holders were underemployed, meaning they were employed in roles that typically do not require that level of education. Alarmingly, the rate for international graduates was even higher, reaching 63.4%.
The issue is similarly prevalent in the United States. A recent 2024 report by The Burning Glass Institute (now Lightcast) and Strada Education Foundation titled Talent Disrupted found that 52% of recent graduates were underemployed a year after graduation and 45% were underemployed a decade after graduation.
Underemployment has significant financial costs. Underemployed workers tend to make 33% less than those who are not. The authors of the Talent Disrupted study contend that underemployment is often “sticky,” meaning that many graduates who start out underemployed will remain so 5-10 years after graduation. In other words, these graduates may never catch up to their peers.
Post-graduate underemployment can undermine the promise of higher education as a pathway to upward socioeconomic mobility. It can disproportionally affect students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those with high financial need. These students often take on significant debt to access post-secondary education, driven by the expectation that a degree will lead to good, well-paying employment. When students struggle to secure these outcomes, student loan repayment can become increasingly difficult, especially amid rising living costs.
Research also highlights that underemployment is not experienced equally across demographics in higher education and in the wider community. Unjust disparities have been documented among liberal arts graduates, women and systemically marginalized groups, underscoring the need for equitable career development support.
To support post-secondary students, we offer five suggestions for career development educators to enhance career development.
1. Adopt equity-driven practices and document achievements
Student affairs units, including career development centers, ought to adopt equity-driven practices that address disparities in access to opportunities. Supporting work-study programs for students with demonstrated financial need and ensuring equal opportunity for highly sought-out paid internships, co-op and experiential learning programs is critical. These practices can support marginalized student populations such as first-generation and/or low-income students to develop skills and gain experience to access good post-graduate employment. Additionally, student affairs leaders should track progress and celebrate successes around these objectives.
2. Focus on early and proactive engagement
Career exploration early in students’ educational journeys is important. Students should be encouraged to participate in several high-impact practices such as paid internships, capstone projects, service-learning, global experiences and leadership activities. Proactive engagement can involve promoting initiatives at new student orientation and collaborating with faculty members and other academic units around campus to reach students in their first year. Career development is the business of everyone in the post-secondary community, not solely those educators employed in career services (Stebleton & Ho, 2023). Educators should talk to current students about underemployment as a potential problem that could influence future planning and decision-making.
3. Address student financial realities in career planning
Recognize that students with financial need may face significant constraints that shape their career development choices. Many must prioritize paid work over volunteer opportunities, which can limit access to traditional forms of experiential learning. To support hardworking students juggling multiple priorities (Taylor, 2025), career educators can focus on promoting flexible and paid skills-building opportunities such as on-campus employment and short-term projects with stipends. Additionally, advocate for increased access to student awards, bursaries and wage subsidies that can help reduce financial pressure and create space for intentional career exploration and planning.
4. Integrate Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) into academic curriculum
Students should be strongly encouraged to complete at least one work-integrated learning experience, such as a co-op placement or a paid-internship, during their post-secondary education. The Talent Disrupted report found that students who completed paid internships were less likely to be underemployed upon graduation. Leaders of colleges and universities can partner with businesses, non-profits and government organizations to create and fund these opportunities for all students. Graduating students will develop career-readiness skills that ideally enable them to avoid underemployment. Finally, faculty and career educators can integrate WIL directly into the curriculum, where students can see how discipline-based content and theory relates to practice.
5. Seek unexpected career champions as partners and expand career exploration:
Build collaborations beyond traditional players (Byrd-White, 2019). Engage faculty from non-vocational disciplines, alumni with diverse and unconventional career paths, and student leaders who can become career champions and influence peer engagement. Educators can collaborate with departments across student affairs and broader campus ecosystems – even those without a direct career mandate, such as residence life, wellness services, equity offices, academic/financial aid advisors – empower them to serve as career champions (Michel, 2024; Podany, 2025).
Addressing underemployment must be a central concern for higher-education institutions. Career development educators play a critical role in reducing underemployment by bridging the gap between academic training and labour market demands. Through equity-driven practices, early intervention, inclusive career education and access to paid work-integrated learning opportunities, they can help ensure all students are prepared for meaningful, degree-relevant employment.
However, this work must extend beyond the boundaries of career services. Institutions should adopt a whole-campus approach, collectively involving faculty, staff and community partners. Student affairs leaders, faculty members and administrators can all become career influencers. By implementing strategic and innovative approaches, educators can exercise leadership and guide students in their transition from university to the workplace, in turn, reducing underemployment rates.
