I think blaming college is the wrong thing. It’s letting the market off the hook. At the end of the day, it’s a tough economy unless you’re willing to go work a job that no one else wants to like being a cop, firefighter or something else involving manual labor. Employers got a hint of employee power during COVID and made sure to lobby to get rid of any benefit the average citizen had. So instead of hiring multiple people, you hire one person and have them do a two person job and where are they going to go? If you give a job to someone without a college degree you pretty much have them forever also because they won’t be competitive for other jobs against college grads with the same level of experience. Like there’s nowhere else that person is a manager competition against a college educated person with the same background and skill set. I’ve seen it time and again.And the millions who are too far in debt and/or their studies, to pivot their education to match job landscape that changes every 6 months are SOL? These the same things I heard in 2012 when I graduated in the worst economy in recent memory:
- I'm hungry, technically homeless, juggling PTs and nearly 70k in debt before graduation "Should have got an in-demand degree"
- I graduate and the only FT jobs require 2 years industry experience. "Should have got an intership while you were in school"
- After years of grinding my youth away into a sleeping disorder, I get a great job, but I'm so far behind the previous generations were at the same age in life. " No family, or a house....Should have spent your money better in your 20s"
The younger Gen Z is on track to get hit even harder than I did. No wonder they want to be streamers. Every generation shyts on the previous one and we steady trying to figure out why things get worse. The game is rigged and everyone is in on it.
Also, objectively, Gen Z isn’t like us. These guys grew up in a world that makes them unequipped for the workplace. They grew up online and struggle dealing with people or with accountability. They have unrealistic expectations and generally just don’t operate well in the workplace because of their personalities. I say that as someone who has had to oversee a lot of Gen Z terminations. Millennials are actually the best of both worlds because we’re tech savvy but know what it’s like to be outside and come to work 5 days a week.
