Why is there so much negativity about the job market for international students in the US and Germany?

You are seeing so much online negativity because the US and Germany disappoint international students for almost opposite reasons. In the US, corporate sponsorship has collapsed and immigration policy keeps shifting under you, while in Germany the economy has slowed and most real jobs still expect solid German language skills even for English taught degrees. Both markets are genuinely tighter than a few years ago, but the underlying causes and fixes are very different.

US Versus Germany, Side By Side

What Is Really Behind The Complaints

• In the US, proposals to scrap OPT entirely and delays in processing have left many graduates in genuine limbo.
• Only around 29 percent of US companies now say they are open to hiring foreign graduates, a sharp fall from a few years ago.
• In Germany, job openings have contracted by close to nineteen percent even though the country faces a structural shortage of over 140,000 STEM workers.
• German employers, especially mid-sized firms, still expect B1 to B2 conversational German, which catches many English-taught program graduates off guard.
• Only about a third of international students in Germany feel their university career office genuinely helps them transition into the local job market.

My Advice

If you are weighing these two, decide honestly whether you are willing to learn German to at least B1 level, since that single factor unlocks most of Germany's job market and its very low tuition. If you lean toward the US, budget for a real chance of an unsponsored outcome and pick a STEM field with active hiring like cybersecurity or healthcare technology rather than general software roles.