While AI stokes career anxiety, more college students are looking to accounting as a steady, high-paying bet.

The big picture: The stereotypically "dull and tedious" job, Fortune reports, "has struggled for years to attract young talent." But that's starting to change.

By the numbers: Total U.S. postsecondary accounting enrollment rose to roughly 313,400 students in 2025 — up from 293,800 in 2024, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

• Meanwhile, fall 2025 undergraduate accounting enrollment also climbed for the third straight year.

Zoom in: Atlanta's Emory University granted 34 Master of Accounting degrees through its joint bachelor of business administration program during the 2025-26 school year. That's up from 26 the year before, per data shared with Axios.

• This past spring, a record 48 students accepted admission to the program.
• Undergrads can also study accounting as a focus area within the business school.

What they're saying: Emory's master's program has "taken off" in recent years as broader economic uncertainty and word of mouth have encouraged more students to pursue accounting, professor Allison Kays tells Axios.

• Around the pandemic, students "started to switch to accounting for the stability," she says. More have followed suit since then.

As for AI fears, Kays notes many people who go into accounting become CPAs — a credential that might help them "feel more protected in the age of AI."

Between the lines: Rather than replacing accountants outright, research suggests AI is helping them work more efficiently by taking over the "boring" parts of the job, like routine bookkeeping.

• "I think the upper-level jobs, at least in the short term, aren't at risk of being replaced by AI," Kays says.
• Yes, but: "No one knows what's going to happen in the long term with AI."

Furthering accounting's appeal for students: Some colleges report job placement rates above 95% for graduates, with median starting salaries around $80,000, according to Fortune.

• The University of Georgia says over 95% of students are employed within three months of graduating from its school of accounting.
• Emory says its accounting master's degree has a 99% employment rate.

Fast-growing Southern metros offer the best job opportunities for recent college graduates, according to a new study.

Why it matters: Grads in Georgia may not need to leave the region to find solid career prospects.

• Birmingham, Alabama, and Tampa Bay topped payroll processor ADP's annual ranking.

Yes, but: Atlanta landed in the bottom half, at No. 36 out of 53 metros ranked.

• The metro has a 2.2% hiring rate, per ADP.
• Its annual wage estimate is $52,100, compared with $59,000 in Birmingham.

How it works: This year's rankings are based on wages, hiring rates and cost of living data in 53 metros with at least one million residents.

• The survey specifically examined the hiring of people in their 20s for jobs that typically require a bachelor's degree.

The rest of the top 10 metros are:

• San Jose, California
• Columbus, Ohio
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• San Francisco
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• New York

At the bottom of the rankings are:

• Salt Lake City
• Riverside, California
• San Diego
• Portland, Oregon

The bottom line: Entry-level hiring is rebounding. But young professionals' prospects depend on the specific role, sector and location, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Economists are looking for clues that AI is eliminating jobs for young workers.

• Two new papers suggest a different culprit: remote work.

Why it matters: Young workers' white-collar job woes might stem from the massive, pandemic-era shift in how Americans work. Any AI-related impacts are landing on top of that headwind. The consequences could reverberate for years to come.

• "A persistent contraction of this kind hollows out the pipeline of future experienced workers," economists from the University of Warwick, the London School of Economics and Oxford's Ellison Institute of Technology wrote in a paper.

The big picture: Remote work has allowed many workers more flexibility over where they live and work.

• But new research suggests that employers may be shying away from inexperienced workers, believing that remote work makes training and development more difficult. That may be leading them to favor experienced hires instead.

The economists estimate remote work accounts for roughly 64% of the rise in youth unemployment since the pandemic.

• That finding holds even after accounting for occupations' exposure to AI, the economists say.

Speaking of WFH — Gen Z workers are chasing more time in the office.

Why it matters: The generation with a reputation for preferring fully remote work is actually the least likely to want it — reflecting deeper worries about connection and growth, recent Gallup polling shows.

By the numbers: Fewer than a quarter (23%) of remote-capable Gen Z employees say they'd prefer fully remote work, compared with 35% among each older generation, according to Gallup's 2025 survey.

• And Gen Z is the most likely to want employees in the office more often.

What they're saying: "Older workers already have established relationships, so when they work hybrid or remote, they tend not to lose" them, Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing at Gallup, tells Axios.

• "Younger workers are still establishing those relationships in the workplace, and it's hard to do that from a distance."

Reality check: Working entirely in-person remains the least popular option across generations, Gallup polling shows. Hybrid is the clear winner.

• That hasn't stopped a growing number of major companies from calling in employees five days a week.