Employment: even young graduates from major schools are suffering from the crisis, and especially engineers

Long considered a safe barrier against unemployment, engineering and business diplomas are also suffering from the deterioration of the French economic situation. In 2026, only 76% of young graduates from major schools (engineers, managers, business, journalism, design) landed a job less than six months after leaving school, compared to 80.2% the previous year. This drop of 4.2 points marks the second consecutive annual decline, bringing the loss to almost 10 points of immediate employability in the space of two years.

Mechanically, the number of graduates looking for a job thus climbs to 20.5% for the class of 2025. This is also the worst score recorded since 2005. This bad news for students is explained “logically” by the prevailing economic reluctance (State budgetary restrictions, high interest rates, companies’ failure to pay, complicated international geopolitical climate, etc.), France Travail anticipates an overall decline in recruitment on a national scale, with only 2.3 million hiring intentions planned for the year 2026, its lowest level in eight years.

The engineers most affected

Against all expectations, it is the graduates of engineering schools, usually courted even before the end of their course, who are recording the greatest decline. Their net employment rate fell suddenly by 4.9 points to stand at 77.5%. Although they maintain a slight lead over business school graduates (74.5%) and other specialties (72.2%), their margin of safety is shrinking.

This vulnerability is mainly explained by the concentration of young engineers in two key sectors that are particularly exposed: consulting firms (24.3% of hires) and digital services (17.4%). Beyond the gloomy international economic situation, a new invisible factor is beginning to seize the engine of technological employment: the implementation of artificial intelligence in processes and methods. Entire sectors of activity, such as consulting and ESNs (Digital Services Companies), are suspending their hiring projects while they reorganize their workforce and capture possible productivity gains enabled by these tools.

This slowdown also echoes an underlying trend already observed in the United States, where the employment rate of young graduates in computer engineering and data science has already decreased due to automation.

Stable salaries upon exit

The only positive note in this gloomy panorama is that the level of remuneration manages to hold up. Faced with the overall drop in hiring, the level of remuneration nevertheless manages to demonstrate relative resilience. According to the study data, the median annual gross salary upon hiring stands at 39,679 euros excluding bonuses (i.e. an equivalent of approximately 3,300 euros per month).

That is to say a very slight increase of 0.2% over one year. However, this stability hides a contrasting reality depending on the specialties: it is graduates from other fields (architecture, journalism, etc.) who are doing well with an increase of +2.4% in their initial remuneration, followed by engineers who show a timid progression of +0.4%. These upward adjustments allow these two categories to make up part of their historical gap vis-à-vis management school graduates, who continue to benefit from the highest entry salaries on the market despite the slowdown in the economy.

Also note, the share of graduates from the class of 2025 who take a position abroad remains stable at around 11%. Switzerland is their first destination ahead of Luxembourg with much higher salaries: 84,304 and 49,958 euros respectively.