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As new graduates enter the job market and a fresh generation of students behind them prepares to start their college journeys, surveys have shown that employment and salary prospects, weighed against the high costs of higher education, are increasing concerns.

Peter Leonido, who is graduating this month from UC San Diego with a double major in sociology and education sciences and a minor in community service, said he empathized with student concerns about entering a difficult job market with at times low pay.

But he also admitted that parsing out how illegal immigration impacts the job market “is difficult.”

While the particular kind of financial strain and psychological pressures that characterize unemployment have been around as long as there have been jobs, the scale of layoffs, the transformative nature of AI that is upending entire industries, stubborn inflation, economic uncertainty and new ways social media is connecting people again post-pandemic makes 2025 a unique time to be navigating the ever-shifting job market.

Then, it seems the threat of AI taking over jobs is becoming real as the hosts examine the role state of AI in tech and other industries and its effect on the job market.