For years, students have moved away from humanities majors as job prospects grew less predictable. Now, degrees once seen as safe — including some of the fastest growing majors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — no longer offer the same sense of security, as artificial intelligence reshapes the job market.
STEM degrees have historically been seen as a near guaranteed path to a well-paying job. Engineering or Computer Science majors in 2024 could expect an entry-level salary above $75,000. For the class of 2026, projections look less rosy.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) job outlook report for the class of 2026 said employers project just a 1.6% increase in entry-level hiring, down from 7.3% in 2025. According to the report, the job market for new graduates is the worst it has been since the 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many students who are in this tough market feel that this promise is broken and it's unfair. It's very misaligned expectations with the actual outcome,” said Kyungjin Jang-Tucci, a UW-Madison researcher focused on the transition from college to the workforce.
One reason the market is breaking down is uncertainty caused by AI. In helping seniors find jobs in computer science and computer engineering, Jang-Tucci saw those impacts first hand.
“The job prospects in those majors are really diminishing with AI-related shocks,” Jang-Tucci said.
Kevin Carroll, a senior computer and information science student, is currently on the job hunt.
“I’ve applied for over 20 positions so far,” he said. “Between multi-round interviews, I’ve probably had about five interviews in the past year.”
Carroll said because AI can do much of the work of an entry-level programmer, he’s had to look for jobs that are not best suited to his degree in areas like information technology, database management and cybersecurity.
Part of the reason Carroll chose computer science was the promise of a good paying job waiting for him down the line. Now he says if he was given a re-do, he wouldn’t go down the same path. “I would go into IT or business management, something like that.”
Just 10 years ago, web developer, software engineer and other similar roles were some of the most highly sought after positions. In 2025, computer engineering and computer science are in the top five for highest unemployment rates by major nationwide.
“Many students who are graduating right now got into this program when there was still a promise of if you code well, if you get this degree, you will get a job and you will get a good salary after college,” Jang-Tucci said.
However, some degree programs may see new opportunities in the world of AI. Graham Gasper, a current Electrical Engineering graduate student, said he’ll be entering the workforce at the perfect time — as AI data centers continue to crop up across the country.
“I want to focus on large scale power distribution,” Gasper said. “There is so much AI growth that we need so much more power demand and so many more electrical engineers going into that field.”
Gasper will complete his graduate program at the end of the semester, and he already has a job lined up. “I had a couple offers and honestly, I didn’t put that much effort into searching,” he said.
If a computer science major can find work in this market, the income prospects are still there. A 2024 report from the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy found that Computer and Information Science majors at UW-Madison not only had the highest starting wages out of college, but also the highest lifetime returns.
For non-STEM majors, AI’s effects are less clear. Liberal Arts majors have an unemployment rate of 3.8%, below the national average of 4.4% and well below the 5.6% average for recent graduates in December 2025. Still, some of the issues for Humanities or Social Sciences majors remain the same.
“There’s just not many jobs that pay well,” Jang-Tucci said.
Supported by the CROWE report, humanities majors such as Literature, History or Cultural/Gender studies had some of the worst returns on investment for students.
Employers are increasingly utilizing skills-based hiring — emphasizing a candidate’s demonstrated abilities and skills — over a traditional system favoring educational attainment and work experience. Skills-based processes typically want applicants to be able to describe instances when they applied a relevant skill that yielded a positive outcome.
According to NACE, the top skills companies want to see are “soft skills.” Problem-solving, teamwork, communication skills and initiative are all toward the top of what employers want to see on a resume.
“Employers are looking at a set of skills instead of the piece of paper that students have,” said Danielle Marriner, an assistant director at the UW Office of Academic and Career Success.
In her position, Marriner interfacts with career advisors across UW-Madison to determine what students need to do to prepare for the job market. She said companies especially love internships or jobs where students can demonstrate relevant, transferable skills in a workplace setting. According to Marriner, there are definite benefits to this approach for students.
“I think it’s more equitable,” Marriner said. “It’s looking at the skills and not where you went to college or something like that. It’s a really good move.”
For those searching for where they fit in the current market, skills-based hiring gives them the opportunity to still build their resume. “You do not have to know where you want to go to have really valuable experiences and build up skills that are going to be really meaningful to a future employer,” said Michelle Jackson, director of the Career Exploration Center.
Jackson echoed Marriner’s point, saying companies are looking for applicants who can demonstrate their abilities.
“We can’t predict for the future,” Jackson said. “What we can do is build up our skill sets around working with people, being a problem solver, being thoughtful and building transferable skills.”
Jackson also said those skills can be built in ways students may not expect. “It doesn't have to be a perfect experience,” she said. “It has to be collecting experiences that give you exposure to either that exact work, or to that industry or to people who have done that work.”
Building and honing strong interpersonal or networking skills is something typically associated with majors outside the STEM realm.
“Humanities and social science major students are more pressured to have something on top of what their degree is,” Jang-Tucci said.
Now, in a job market that is harder to break into with credentials alone, Jang-Tucci said some STEM majors may regret pursuing their degree.
“I heard some students say, ‘Oh I initially wanted to do theater, or social science, or sociology then I chose computer science because of the income prospects,’” Jang-Tucci said.
Gasper agreed that if money was no object, he likely would have chosen a different career path. “I think teaching would be so much fun, except unbelievably underpaid, as everyone knows.”
