{"id":168030,"date":"2026-03-19T07:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/168030\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:19:07","slug":"cuny-grads-face-shortage-of-entry-level-jobs-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/168030\/","title":{"rendered":"CUNY Grads Face Shortage of Entry-Level Jobs in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City University of New York<\/a>\u2014the nation\u2019s largest urban public university system\u2014has made steady progress toward boosting completion rates and propelling its predominantly low-income students toward the middle class. However, a new report<\/a> from the Center for an Urban Future<\/a> finds that, despite those gains, many graduates are struggling to access well-paying local jobs.<\/p>\n

The report finds that entry-level job postings in New York City have plunged 37.4\u00a0percent since 2022, while paid internship postings are down 37.1\u00a0percent from pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n

CUNY, which spans 25 two- and four-year campuses and serves more than 200,000 students, is feeling the impact. Just 12\u00a0percent of undergraduates complete a paid internship\u2014far below the national average of 57\u00a0percent, the report found.<\/p>\n

In an increasingly difficult hiring environment, city and state leaders should prioritize expanding employer partnerships\u2014particularly with the private sector, said Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the Center for an Urban Future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the quality of the academics\u2014it\u2019s the accessibility of work experience and professional networks, and being able to access them early and often,\u201d Dvorkin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCUNY is a really complex organization, and that ecosystem can be challenging for employers,\u201d he added. \u201cInstead of having no wrong door, it often feels like there\u2019s no door at all, and many employers still don\u2019t understand how to tap into the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the university has made remarkable progress in helping students earn degrees; the three-year graduation rate at CUNY\u2019s community colleges has doubled over the past decade. However, the report found that many graduates still struggle to find careers aligned with their degrees. Roughly one in 10 alumni ends up working in retail or food service five years after graduation\u2014a figure that rises to 13\u00a0percent for community college graduates.<\/p>\n

Dvorkin said the decline in entry-level opportunities is especially daunting for CUNY students, given competition from the roughly 100,000 other college graduates in New York City each year, the report found.<\/p>\n

\u201cCUNY students are in this flooded labor market trying to differentiate themselves and stand out,\u201d Dvorkin said. \u201cThey\u2019re competing with graduates from other universities\u2014from NYU and Columbia\u2014and from folks that were recently laid off in the labor market and are now competing for similar jobs but have two to three years of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dvorkin noted that CUNY is the city\u2019s \u201csingle largest and most important engine of upward economic mobility,\u201d with career success initiatives already showing promising results. Under Chancellor F\u00e9lix Matos Rodr\u00edguez, the university has launched programs like CUNY Beyond<\/a>, a systemwide effort to prioritize career exploration and outcomes.<\/p>\n

But these efforts currently reach only a fraction of students, underscoring the need to expand them significantly, Dvorkin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job of city and state policymakers now isn\u2019t to invent new methods of connecting CUNY students to careers, but to invest in scaling up what\u2019s already working,\u201d Dvorkin said.<\/p>\n

The barriers: Drawing on more than 80 interviews with employers, faculty, administrators and nonprofit leaders, the report identifies seven barriers to deeper employer engagement:<\/p>\n

Employers say navigating CUNY\u2019s 25 campuses is \u201cconfusing and time-consuming.\u201dCareer services are siloed from academics, and staff are often overwhelmed, with some serving more than 1,100 students.Hybrid academic-career advisers and industry specialists embedded in academic departments are making a difference\u2014but exist in only about 40 of CUNY\u2019s 450 departments.Students have too few opportunities for early career exploration and to learn industry needs, in part because most opportunities are \u201cextracurricular and not embedded in required courses.\u201dNonprofit and intermediary partners with strong industry ties remain underutilized.CUNY lacks a modern, systemwide customer relationship management platform to track, coordinate and share employer engagement across campuses.Many campuses don\u2019t use modern employment platforms like Handshake, instead relying on separate job boards or third-party services\u2014creating a fragmented experience.<\/p>\n

Dvorkin said that because CUNY students have limited access to paid internships and work-based learning, far too many are missing out on early work experiences and networking opportunities that can make a crucial difference in landing a job after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best ways New York City employers can support our affordability agenda is by hiring New Yorkers and partnering with [CUNY] on structured pathways into the good jobs their companies are creating,\u201d Dvorkin said. \u201cThe problem is that most large employers in New York City have never been approached this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead: Dvorkin suggested that Mayor Zohran Mamdani leverage his \u201cpolitical capital\u201d to set the tone with private sector employers and emphasize partnerships with CUNY to create meaningful career pathways for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the mayor were to come out and say, \u2018The city of New York is going to double down on its efforts to hire CUNY students and create work-based learning opportunities, and we want other major employers to join us,\u2019 I think that would be a powerful message that would resonate,\u201d Dvorkin said.<\/p>\n

He said that given the historic growth in graduation rates, it\u2019s time for city and state leaders to pivot from a \u201cfocus on college success to career success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor doesn\u2019t need Albany or any other stakeholders to advance that part of the mission,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are actions the mayor can take himself, and they would make a meaningful difference in expanding access to good jobs for New Yorkers from low-income backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

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