What if there are several reasons all at once?

* Economy is tighter overall.

* Covid overhiring followed by firing means fresh graduates face competition from a large cohort of people with a few years of work experience.

* Even if it's not necessarily true, if the C-suite _believes_ that AI can replace juniors, that's enough to funnel money away from hiring and into AI investments. When money for hiring is tight, seniors are prioritized.

* Like it or not, workforce immigration (such as H-1B) causes displacement.

* The number of CS graduates in the US has doubled over the last decade.

In Sweden, fresh graduates across a number of fields are having a hard time finding jobs. Many of thosee seem to have either a STEM education affected by a dip in "green" capex/investments, or in "overhead" sectors likely to be tightened in bad times, such as HR specialists.