Gen Z is not screwed.. they just got a different set of tools than their parents.. yes the old path is broken.. a 2018 analysis found 61% of entry level jobs wanted 3 or more years of experience.. and in 2025 Stanford found early career jobs in AI exposed work fell 13%.. the degree to job to house plan.. is not working like it used to.. but look at the other side.. a 22 year old today can use AI to code.. design.. edit.. market.. and sell.. work that needed a full team 10 years ago.. your parents needed permission to start.. a hiring manager.. a bank loan.. an office.. you need a laptop and an idea..

Goldman says new hires will manage AI agents from day one and skip years of entry-level work. I started at Lehman in 2006 as the entry-level work. The agents have the same job description and don't need the suit.

Every headline says AI is wiping out entry-level jobs for new grads. The data through summer 2026 disagrees. Recent-grad unemployment: 7.3% this summer. 7.2% last year. 7.8% back in 2024. Right in the middle of the post-2022 range. A new UCLA and NBER study ran the regressions on the 2026 AI effect. It came back at basically zero. The panic is running way ahead of the prints.

The IMF warns AI could transform or wipe out 40% of jobs worldwide, and its chief says the first wave is already here. Kristalina Georgieva said today that AI is hitting the economy from 2 directions, driving massive investment while reshaping demand. The U.S., China and India are leading the charge, with AI spending helping keep global growth around 3%. Advanced economies are already feeling the impact, and Georgieva's biggest concern is young people entering the workforce. The routine, repetitive jobs that traditionally give them a foot in the door are among the easiest to automate. She also warned that AI could reshape the labor market so dramatically that governments may have to rethink how they collect taxes. Hard to pay taxes on a salary that went to a chatbot. Source: FXStreet / Writer: Julie