New college graduates looking for work now are finding a tighter labor market than they expected even a few months ago.

The unemployment rate for recent college grads reached 5.8% in March, up from 4.6% the same time a year ago, according to an April report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

Job postings at Handshake, a campus recruiting platform, are down 15% over the past year, while the number of applications has risen by 30%. 

Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at Handshake, says new grads are finding a “tough and competitive” market.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and certainly a lot of competition for the current graduates that are coming into the job market,” she said.

While the job creation in the U.S. has continued to show signs of strength, policy changes have driven the uncertainty.

President Donald Trump has frozen federal hiring and done mass firings of government workers. Evercore ISI, an investment bank, estimated earlier this month that 350,000 federal workers have been impacted by cuts from Department of Government Efficiency, representing roughly 15% of federal workers, with layoffs set to take effect over the coming months.

“In early January, the class of 2025 was on track to meet and even exceed the number of applications to federal government jobs,” Cruzvergara said. When the executive orders hit in mid-January there was  “a pretty steep decline all of a sudden, she said.

“The federal government is one of the largest employers in this country, and also one of the largest employers for entry-level employees as well,” said Loujaina Abdelwahed, senior economist at Revelio Labs, a workforce intelligence firm.

On-again, off-again tariff policies have created uncertainty for companies, with a third of chief executive officers in a recent CNBC survey expecting to cut jobs this year because of the import taxes.

Job losses from artificial intelligence technology are also a concern.

A majority, 62%, of the Class of 2025 are concerned about what AI will mean for their jobs, compared to 44% two years ago, according to a survey by Handshake. Graduates in the humanities and computer science are the most worried about AI’s impact on jobs.

“I think it’s more about a redefinition of the entry level than it is about an elimination of the entry level,” Cruzvergara said.

Postings for jobs in hospitality, education services, and sales were showing monthly growth through March, according to Revelio Labs. But almost all industries, with the exception of information jobs, saw pullbacks in April.

For new grads hunting for a job, experts advise keeping a positive mindset.

“Employers don’t want to hire someone that they feel like is desperate or bitter or upset,” said Cruzvergara. “They want to hire someone that still feels like there’s a lot of opportunity, there’s a lot of potential.”

Here are two tactics that can help with your search:

1. Look at small firms — they may provide big opportunities

Companies with fewer than 250 employees may offer better opportunities to grow and learn than bigger “brand name” firms, according to Revelio Labs.

A new study by Revelio found that five years into their careers, graduates had comparable salary progression,  promotion timelines, and managerial prospects — regardless of the size of their first employer. However, people who started their careers at small companies were 1.5 times more likely to become founders of their own companies later in their careers.

The study looked at individuals who earned bachelor’s degrees in the U.S. between 2015 and 2022, following their career paths post-graduation.

While some young workers may have entered start-ups with the goal of starting their own firm in the future, Abdelwahed said there’s often an opportunity at smaller companies to be given responsibilities beyond the job’s role. 

“Because the company’s small and the work needs to get done, so they just start to develop this entrepreneurship drive,” Abdelwahed said.

2. Network and use informational interviews

Experts also urge recent grads to reach out to people working in industries that pique their interest.

“Take an interest in someone else. Ask them questions about how they got to where they are, what they’ve learned, what you should know about that particular industry, what are emerging trends or issues that are facing them in the field right now,” said Cruzvergara.

This approach can help you sound more knowledgeable in the application and interviewing process.

— CNBC’s Sharon Epperson contributed reporting.

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Many homeowners have seen their property taxes increase in recent years because of rising housing prices and local tax rates. But the property tax assessment isn’t always set in stone: filing an appeal may lower the cost for years.

The median property tax bill in the U.S. in 2024 was $3,500, up 2.8% from $3,349 in 2023, according to an April report by Realtor.com. 

How much you pay varies widely depending on where you live, and some places have seen higher bills and bigger increases.

As of 2023, the median property tax for homeowners in New York City was $9,937, according to a new report by LendingTree. The city ranks first among the metropolitan areas with the highest median property taxes. Rounding out the top three are San Jose, California and San Francisco, where homeowners paid a median $9,554 and $8,156, respectively.

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Over 40% of homeowners across the U.S. could potentially save $100 or more per year by protesting their assessment value, Realtor.com estimates, with median savings of $539 a year. 

“You’re banking on several years of savings,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

That’s because while some state or local governments mandate annual property tax reassessments, others set less frequent cycles with gaps of several years — and some have no set schedule at all. There are also some events that can trigger a reassessment, like a home sale or renovations.

Here’s what you need to know before you appeal a property tax increase, according to experts. 

NTUF estimates 30% to 60% of taxable property in the U.S. is over-assessed, based on reports from individual state tax assessors.

Some of the most common exemptions cover qualifying older residents, active military members, veterans, low-income households or disabled individuals, among others, Bankrate found.

House Republicans’ “one, big, beautiful” tax bill includes a new temporary $4,000 deduction for older adults.

The change, called a “bonus” in the legislation, is aimed at helping retirees keep more money in their pockets and provides an alternative to the idea of eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits, which President Donald Trump and other lawmakers have touted.

The bill provides a “historic tax break” to seniors receiving Social Security, “fulfilling President Trump’s campaign promise to deliver much-needed tax relief to our seniors,” White House Assistant Press Secretary Elizabeth Huston said via email.

The proposal calls for an additional $4,000 deduction to be available to adults ages 65 and over, whether they take the standard deduction or itemize their returns. The temporary provision would apply to tax years 2025 through 2028. The deduction would start to phase out for single filers with more than $75,000 in modified adjusted gross income, and for married couples who file jointly with more than $150,000.

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As a tax deduction, it would reduce the amount of seniors’ income that is subject to levies and therefore reduce the taxes they may owe. Notably, it is not as generous as a tax credit, which reduces income tax liability dollar for dollar.

A median income retiree who brings in up to about $50,000 annually may see their taxes cut by a little less than $500 per year with this change, noted Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

“It’s not nothing, but it’s also not life changing,” Gleckman said.

Social Security benefits are taxed based on a unique tax rate applied to combined income — or the sum of adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest and half of Social Security benefits.

Beneficiaries may have up to 85% of their benefits subject to taxes if they have more than $34,000 in combined income individually, or more than $44,000 if they are married and file jointly.

Up to 50% of their benefits may be taxed if their combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000 for individual taxpayers, or between $32,000 and $44,000 for married couples.

Beneficiaries with combined income below those thresholds may pay no tax on benefits. Therefore, a policy to eliminate taxes on benefits would not help them financially.

The proposed $4,000 tax deduction for seniors may help some retirees who are on the hook to pay taxes on their Social Security benefit income offset those levies, according to Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation.

However, the impact of that change would vary by individual situation, he said. For some individuals who pay up to an 85% tax rate on their benefit income, “that $4,000 deduction can make a difference,” Watson said.

Moreover, the cost for the $4,000 deduction would come out of general revenue for income tax, which means it would not directly take money from Social Security’s trust funds, which already face a funding shortfall.