I’m assuming US job market. I googled around and found this that seems to be where that statistic comes from

Frankly I still don’t believe it or consider it alarming. Even at face value, if it’s a difference of 6% and 8% unemployment, it is not that meaningful. It’s still 92% vs 94% employment. Once employed, a physicist can expect a good or great salary. Lifetime earnings are great even if it can be hard for some people to find a job straight out of college. Everyone in my program is gainfully employed, usually not as an academic, but in software development, engineering, finance, or education. It’s far from a “do not recommend” field even if the latest CNN fad is to doom and gloom about the fall of STEM (usually simultaneously hyping AI as the replacement, which is rubbish)

Consider the rise of LLMs. Because it is a novel field, there are not many people with an education tailored it. Physicists are generalists. That makes them desired for industries in uncharted territory where a strong analytical and theoretical mindset is more important than a particular certification or knowledge of a computer program.