Perhaps is the algorithm doing what it does, but I cant help the enormous amount of media popping up about the despair of GenZ's prospects. Unemployment might be saying its low, but its far from the real story. Look at new graduate unemployment rates, highest in a decade by a lot outside of COVID and that's the group I am interested in here (GenZ).

The rise of AI - It will undoubtedly take entry level positions, and without any doubt improve manufacturing robotics to the point where most humans are likely eliminated completely. While more than 50% of companies surveyed currently who used AI to replace staff have had regrets, it would be stupid to think this current iteration will be what is being used 2-5 years from now. It will only improve.

I picture a .com crash but from the ashes just like google and few others did then, the actual useful ones will rise out of the ashes and be prominent.

Outsourcing - Entry level positions are being outsourced in record numbers to India, Philippines, Melyasia, etc. Education has not changed in any meaningful way that allows you to suddenly skip entry level positions and jump to senior positions. You can't get experience because because the job position does not exist for you anymore. Does education have to change to be more practical. Speaking from a finance and accounting background, I gained far more knowledge from actually working. University did provide some fundamentals, and challenges critical thinking via case studies, but it hardly prepares you for the actual workforce in terms of practical application. Something has to change here. The pipeline of new grads without positions to move them from junior to senior roles is going to cause a major issue, its already being seen in new grad unemployment rates.

From what I can tell no government are really tackling either issue head on. We're just spouting the same drivel that appeals to the emotions of voters. We will bring X business back and create X jobs and then you have whatever large company say yes 500 billion dollar investment incoming, wink, wink and anyone here knows that the investment wont happen or it will be nearly fully automated since its largely manufacturing based at this point with service roles either mostly outsourced where possible or now done via AI. We're on the cusp of that reality if you look at even short periods of time like a 10 year horizon.

Every-time there's some tech change in this world there's resistance or people screaming that its going to take all the jobs and it will be detrimental to people. I can remember watching a documentary on some of the first machines like the sewing machine and people used to burn down garment factories using it in protest, but usually it resulted in other jobs that offset.

This time does feel different, AI does not feel like its going to create other jobs in the same number that its going to replace and corps outsource a large number of the rest to another country. In conclusion I tend to agree and all political biases aside I think GenZ and others to come after them are fucked. You?

Again, politics aside, all gov'ts need to get Infront of this somehow. I'm not smart enough to know what that looks like though.

This post was edited by SBD on Aug 20 2025 08:39am

here are my rambling thoughts


today, in its current state ai is a tool that still requires critical thinking skills to be useful

it has a hallucination problem, requiring human oversight. this also makes it not ideal for things that make life impacting decisions (i.e. someone is hurt)

can it be abused? yes. but largely companies have been putting in guardrails to promote responsible ai for better ai adoption


if viewed as a tool, it can help accelerate learning and enhance certain work processes

the onus is on those leveraging it, so if too heavily relied upon without fully understand its strengths/weaknesses it is a good way to make yourself look like an ass


i think ai could be a tremendous opportunity (for anyone young and old) to those that learn its strengths and weaknesses and use it effectively


companies are spending huge money on ai talent and datacenters. they expect an roi on these investments


you mention an outsourcing problem - comes down to labor cost im sure. unless physical presence is required. corporate culture is also a consideration in this

college education - only going up in price. i dont think college degrees are going anywhere as a 'baseline' form of education. hireability is an aggregate of education, certs, experience, each having certain weight to certain employers and industries. then theres "who you know", which the 3 aforementioned can have an impact.

colleges lag fast paced industries

that said college no longer seems be a guaranteed way to land a good job (i think weve know this for 10+ years now with the student loan crisis). it basically comes down to you networking and forming connections, preparedness, and luck

This post was edited by penguinhero on Aug 20 2025 10:04am

AI does currently need human oversight and without a doubt provides utility but I don't think its hard to envision advancements in it where suddenly you have a single supervisor oversing an AI that now does the work of 10 former junior staff and I don't know that the replacement rate of other jobs created via AI will ever match the displacement.

When we think about companies utilizing it efficiently / effectively, sort of one thing comes to mind, cost reduction. Prior to the 80s there was tremendous focus on workers, workers rights, affordable xyz to promote good workers. Enter Regan and Thatcher things started to change in the workplace. CEO compensations boomed, workers rights begin to dissapear, focus went on shareholder returns and have only slid further that way to current day and now the dream of a home, family and a vehicle is dead for most, especially Gen Z.

Your major companies post 80s are completely driven by different values than your pre 80s in my opinion and so they're going to utilize these things in an unfavourable way to the general work-force and I think you're ultimately already seeing the beginning of it in post-graduate unemployment rates.

We have a bit of a storm brewing, the erosion of workers rights, the rise in AI and the use of out of country outsourcing all combined with a shareholder return focused market that promotes heavy cost gutting, stock buybacks and trading multiples that require companies to continue unrealistic growth trends for the next 50 years.

This post was edited by SBD on Aug 20 2025 10:07am

The genz drama is mostly in computer science. It happens to everyone because the economy is having issues, but it's most acute for CS majors

There was a massive shortage of engineers in the decade before 2020, then companies overcorrected when COVID happened and started hiring millions of people. CS became this guaranteed ticket to wealth, you could literally have no education, do a 12 week bootcamp, and then start making 150k-200k+ in California. CS then became the most impacted, most in-demand major for undergrads. A huge number of students only majored in CS because they expected to work at FAANG upon graduation and make millions

Now you're in a situation where you have huge crowds of CS graduates, more than the market can bear, and many of them are simply underqualified. FAANG is trying to hire the top of the market, not random idiots who did a degree but have no actual interest in engineering

AI makes things worse. Political conditions make things worse. Tariffs and inflation make things worse. But the core issue is oversupply of CS grads.

Imo ai is going to be used as a means to get access to the skills of the general populace without having to pay for it.

This is going to be very problematic for many professions and assassinating ceos and entire boards will be a great way to solve this problem.

Could be that its that creating the initial noise, but I cant help but feel, its not going to be just CS people making noise in the next 5 years.

And on the side of outsourcing, again from a finance and accounting background, those junior positions are often outsourced now and firms, think big 4 were making ample profit and significant annual partner payouts before the outsourcing, so were most financial institutions. At this point I don't know how you return to post 80s worker first mentality. Or perhaps you can't.



There is the benefit that comes with it, access to learning. With that said, here in Canada and the USA, jobs are all currently safeguarded by some bullshit accreditations. That's why in Canada we have so many diploma mills , you essentially pay for a diploma of some type now so you can pass a screening process which now companies are using AI for in many instances. Its the only way to actually get to a human and get an interview now or you're auto-screened out before you even get a chance.

PS I don't know who reported you but it was not I.

This post was edited by SBD on Aug 20 2025 10:44am

Every industry will be impacted. I believe AI will already revolutionize the world even if progress stops today. I don't think people understand how powerful these models are, most people are still talking about chatbot hallucinations without realizing that ChatGPT is one product out of many thousands that already exist. The impact on biology and medicine for example is already mind blowing, no one can predict how it'll change the world

I still say CS is the epicenter of genz struggles today, because it is the biggest mismatch of expectations and reality. These kids were legitimately expecting millions, but are facing long term unemployment

it's almost certainly an OP by nefarious actors. no i'm not joking.

These actors have time and again identified and highlighted certain victim groups so that legislators will fund projects to help them that these actors can invariably profit from. Section 8 housing, Homeless shelters, Job placement programs, feeding impoverished worldwide, etc. Time and again these groups are elevated as needing help, and the govt funds it, and makes millionaires that skim a healthy portion off of the top.

With the rise of AI and Automation GenZ faces perhaps the hardest challenge any generation has ever faced in america to succeed, so they're a perfect demographic to champion and profit from. It's not that these above listed groups don't need help, it's that the helpers often have well funded bank accounts which rake the top of all funding efforts.

I forsee the pitchforks and smoke 50 years from now. UBI has become a thing, but there's still make inequality but less advancement opportunities than ever which will have completely eliminated the american dream resulting in its citizens finally having a moment of clarity and becoming highly disgruntled with the wealthy.

On a side note, hot take, but the last 15 years have been the best advancement back towards slavery. Everyone's brainwashed into consumerism. You have a large potion of the populate that works to own things, to show off that they own things so that other people work to take pictures of the better things they purchased while workers rights have been slowly but surely pretty abolished. And its the perfection of it, its almost voluntary slavery which in itself is a oxymoron I know.



Must be in bleak mood this morning, we were talking our kids futures around a cup of coffee, and no one seemed overly optimistic, with most agreeing they have diverted their retirement plans so they can fund hundreds of thousands of dollars to their kids due to low prospects, especially here in Canada where our housing is totally fucked.

This post was edited by SBD on Aug 20 2025 11:31am

in capitalist fashion the job market is evolving and will continue to evolve

much how like mining and factory towns went tits up, a lot of other industries are staged to face a similar ai reckoning.

reliable automation takes time, so theres time for people to see the writing on the wall and pivot to the demands of the market. many have considered blue collar/trades. many have learned ai to generate that skillset and be better at their jobs

shareholder value is status quo and people have come to rely on the stock market going up and quickly. hard to picture returning to prioritizing workers rights especially if it has the potential to negatively impact stock value

my pragmatic view:
imo only way out of todays high cost of living is to increase your takehome pay, which is market driven so get yourself a valuable skillset (whatever that looks like).


cost of living will only keep rising so the choices are try to adapt or stay poorget left behind and eat the table scraps

This post was edited by penguinhero on Aug 20 2025 11:39am