Yes, today's jobs market is tough for graduates – but AI is not to blame

Figures show that while competition is tight, it's the economy not tech that is the cause

- Tom Wall, Barney Macintyre & Katie Riley

Vincent Peters came close to putting his engineering career on hold last week. He had applied for 73 jobs after graduating with a master's in space engineering in September.

Most applications were rejected outright, with 34 employers not even bothering to respond. But then he got a call from a recruiter with a job offer.

"It was getting to the point where I was about to give up on the engineering job hunt and start applying to coffee shops again," he says.

Peters, 26, had to deal with a lot of rejection - but it seems he had an easier time than many other graduate job hunters. He posted on a Reddit forum about UK employment, breaking down his applications into unanswered, rejections and interviews.

The comments were revealing: many were surprised he had got a job after so few applications. The most popular response was: "9 interviews out of 73 applications is an insanely high ratio, well done."

Recent headlines have suggested that today's graduates face a more difficult job market, partly because AI might be replacing entry-level jobs. But while most analysts accept it's tough for current graduates, there's not much evidence that it's especially tough – or that AI is to blame.