Sunday thoughts: young graduates are screwed. đŹ
Go into tech?
Big Tech is cutting jobs.
Public sector?
Less prestigious than it used to be.
Engineering?
Innovation is happening in China.
Law?
AI is already writing contracts and summarising lawsuits.
Journalism?
Donât even think about it.
In 2024, only 80% of Stanford business graduates had a job three months post-graduation.
In 2021, it was 91%!
I know what you're thinking. It's AI's fault!
Well, kind of...
The wage premium for graduates has been declining for over a decade, long before ChatGPT.
Reality is,
companies donât need as many qualified people as they used to.
Most office jobs are now standardised, automated, almost robotic.
(I wrote about this last Sunday)
Anyone can do them.
And ironically, the less qualified, the better.
Less ambition, less resistance to "robotic" tasks.
Meanwhile, universities are offering increasingly niche degrees, often disconnected from job market demand.
The goal? More students, even though many were not supposed to be there.
Now AI is pouring fuel on this fire.
If tasks are repetitive anyway, why hire humans at all?
đşđ¸Â In the US
college enrolment dropped 5% between 2013 and 2022.
đŞđşÂ But in Europe
it went the other way!
"In France the number of students went up by 36%; in Ireland by 45%. Governments are subsidising useless degrees, encouraging kids to waste time studying."
đ I don't think studying is a waste.
But the cost-opportunity of studying vs gaining work-ready skills has never been more critical, especially in light of AI.
