Remote Work Is Shutting Out New Grads—But These 10 Jobs Still Hire Remotely

The job market has shifted to remote work, but that is boxing young college grads out. Here are the employers still offering entry-level remote work.

While AI may be getting the brunt of the blame for the recent hiring slowdown for college graduates, another influential technology force is also at play, economists said this week.

Recent college graduates worry that AI is taking their jobs by replacing entry-level positions. But researchers this week found that it is only one factor in the rising unemployment rate among young college graduates.

According to the New York Federal Reserve, the proliferation of remote work accounted for about 64% of the increase in unemployment rates among recent college graduates.

The number of remote positions across the labor market has risen fourfold since the pandemic. Yet, recent college graduates are generally locked out of these jobs as employers believe it is harder to train them online.

For recent college graduates in remote-friendly jobs such as software engineering, the unemployment rate increased by almost 1 percentage point from 2017 to 2024 (excluding the pandemic). Compared with recent college grads in “non-remotable” jobs, such as mechanical engineering, the unemployment rate has remained relatively unchanged.

This trend is specifically targeting young workers with a bachelor's degree or higher. While the unemployment rate for young workers without a bachelor's degree is still higher than those with a degree, from March 2022 to March 2026, the unemployment rate for young workers without a bachelor's degree remained unchanged. During that same time, the unemployment rate for workers in the same age range but with a degree increased by 1.7 percentage points.

Young workers with no college degree or a trade certificate are more likely to work in-person, hands-on jobs, which offer less exposure to remote work and AI.

The Remote Work That Is Still Hiring

While many employers are not hiring recent college graduates for remote work, there are still some options.

The top three employers that are offering entry-level remote jobs were all in the healthcare and tech industries, according to FlexJobs, a job site for remote and hybrid jobs. The top position types were customer service, administrative and sales.

According to FlexJobs' data, these are the top remote and hybrid jobs for entry-level workers:

1. Sales Development Representative
2. Customer Service Representative
3. Business Development Representative
4. Account Executive
5. Financial Analyst
6. Staff Accountant
7. Administrative Assistant
8. Software Engineer
9. Registered Nurse
10. Project Coordinator