Vacation days, health care, 401(k) matching and now: student loan repayment. More companies are offering to help young new hires with debt in their benefits packages, according to new data from job platform Handshake.
Student loan payments are set to resume in October after a years-long pandemic pause.
The share of job descriptions that include student loan assistance on Handshake, a jobs platform for Gen Z, has more than doubled since 2019, according to the company’s new network trends report.
Driving the news: More than half of 2024 graduates expect to carry student loan debt, per Handshake.
Nearly 70% of respondents said debt would influence their job search upon graduation, the survey found.
“Companies look for ways to distinguish themselves with top talent and relieve the pressure student loans place on early-career hires,” Handshake’s report said.
Around 3% of companies used keywords including student loan repayment, student loan, loan repayment, student loan paydown, education debt, debt repayment and student debt in job descriptions as of June 2023, Handshake found.
That figure — representing 4,000 jobs from more than 2,500 employers — marks more than twice the number of companies doing so in 2019, though still a small share of jobs overall.
More than 7 million people 24 or younger collectively owe $103.8 billion in federal student loans.
Overall, 80% of people with outstanding student debt are 50 or younger. And many are confused about how to start paying because of loans being transferred to new servicers or changing plans.
Details: Jobs across industries are offering student loan assistance as a perk of employment, per Handshake.
31%: health care and services
23%: non-profit
14%: government, law and politics
8%: financial services
8% education
