Zara Anwar is 22 years old. She just graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Congratulations. Can you tell us about graduation?

Yeah, graduation was great. You know, you look forward to it for four years, and

I would say I just felt pure joy. Going into her final year of university, Zara was pretty

optimistic about her job prospects. Were you looking forward to, you know, the real world getting out there?

Yes, so much. I feel like I was always looking three years ahead at the next step.

And I was really, really excited. I am really excited. Well, was really excited to start my next step, hit the ground running.

Zara planned for this moment. She did internships and networked with potential employers.

She also chose her classes and major carefully to set herself up for a job after she graduated.

And she started applying for jobs at the beginning of her senior year.

But the months went by, and still she couldn't land a position.

Ultimately, how many jobs did you wind up applying to?

60 plus.

Wow.

60 plus, maybe more. I was really just applying to everything I saw,

anything I saw. And what kind of responses did you get generally? Most of the time, no responses.

It got pretty sad at points and hopeless applying to these jobs, but you know, you have a goal in mind and you have to pursue it and you have to see where it ends up.

Zara is among the many young people stepping off of their college campuses and into a particularly bleak job market.

This year, the gap in the unemployment rate between these young grads and the broader

population was at its widest in about 35 years.

That's according to an April report from the New York Fed.

It seemed so much easier for my siblings.

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