U.S. workers ages 22 to 34 without college degrees are experiencing unusually strong employment conditions relative to their own history since 2003, while younger college graduates are near the weaker end of theirs. College graduates still have lower unemployment in absolute terms: among workers ages 25 to 54, the 12-month average through July was 2.7% for degree holders, compared with 3.6% for those with some college and 4.7% for high-school graduates. The divide is also visible across occupations, with construction, manufacturing and other physical or in-person work outperforming their historical norms as knowledge-heavy and entry-level professional roles face greater pressure. Goldman Sachs research has linked weaker employment trends to several artificial-intelligence-exposed industries and greater pressure on junior workers, while Bank of America found little evidence of a broad AI-driven job collapse. Construction and manufacturing tied to AI infrastructure continued creating jobs. Changing labor supply, including retirements, immigration and participation patterns, is also reshaping the market. Burning Glass Institute chief economist Gad Levanon said it remains unclear how long weakness in entry-level professional work will last or how extensively automation will affect blue-collar and service jobs.