In its spring report on workplace trends, the Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas noted the changing lingo.

A Sad-Grad, said CEO John Challenger, is a recent college graduate with no job prospects, deep in school debt and credit-card bills and living with his or her parents.
—Andrew Herrman, "Cubicle culture inspires its own language," Chicago Sun-Times, May 20, 2003

Sad grads: The National Association of Colleges and Employers in Bethlehem reports that U.S. companies overall expect to hire 36.4 percent fewer college graduates this year.
—Christian Millman, "Summer grads scramble for fewer jobs," Morning Call, May 19, 2002

Dustin Hoffman has been a sad grad, a street hustler, a soap-opera actress and an idiot savant.
—Jeryl Brunner, "Dustin Time," In Style, June 1998

—Dave Barry, "Turning Glad Grads To Sad Grads," The Baltimore Sun, May 19, 1996