Recently, a post from Reddit user katzorp got a fair amount of attention on the popular millennials subreddit. They titled their post, “‘Nobody can get a job anymore’ is ringing real familiar, no?”
Katzorp begins, “Is there something going on with the job market that makes Gen Z unable to get a job any different from what we went through?”
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“I keep coming across the news headlines about how the job market is crap and nobody (mainly Gen Z) can find a job,” they write. “I understand the economy is in the toilet, but as a mid-level millennial, this theme feels like it’s been a constant my entire adult life.”
They continue, “A part of me sees this and all I can think is…has the job market ever been spectacular in my lifetime? Apparently, I was asleep and missed it. Can someone please explain what makes this situation any different than what we went through?”
Then, they detailed their own experience with a bullet point list titled, “Common themes I’ve seen that I vividly remember experiencing as a young adult coming out of college:”
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The list:
• There are no jobs
• You need 100 years’ experience for this entry-level position
• Minimum wage is absolute shit, so don’t even think about actually living comfortably
• Employers : NoBoDy WaNTs To WoRk AnYmOrE, you’re just lazy!!! vs. employees: Please, I need this job, just hire me. For the love of Christ, I’ll figure it out.
• You’ll likely never afford to purchase a home, even if you do find a career position
• Single-income living? Forget about it.
• You will have roommates forever if you don’t go down the path of partnership and family eventually.
They continued: “I’m sure there are a few others I’ve forgotten, but my main takeaway in all this that I keep asking myself is, why is this news being presented like it’s novel?”
They concluded by asking, “Or is every new generation of youth just screwed for the next millennium? Sorry if that seems dark (I know a lot of people on here are parents to Gen Z’ers). But if anyone understands hopelessness, I think we got baptized by fire without asking for it.”
Other millennials in the community had a lot to say, both on the topic of Gen Z in the job market and how millennials have fared over the years. Here are some of the most interesting comments:
1. “Gen Z is competing with millennials, who have knowledge of hardware, lived through several recessions, and often have various combinations of blue- and white-collar experiences,” wrote user sludge_monster.
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2. “My brother-in-law has a master’s degree in education and almost 20 years of experience, and it took him over a year to land a new position, putting in several applications a day,” wrote user phunky_1. “If well-qualified people can’t even get jobs, those trying to get their foot in the door are probably fucked.”
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3. User NotYourSexyNurse said, “It seems like 2008 lite to me. People of all generations are losing their jobs. I’ve heard of people not being employed for over a year despite filling out over 1,000 applications.”
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4. User Regular_Occasion7000 wrote, “Turns out, when the government policy on tariffs changes literally day-by-day, it is impossible to do any sort of long-term business planning. No one is going to, say, build a new factory when the building materials might double in price because of the moron in the White House. So of course the job market sucks. It’s entirely self-inflicted.”
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5. “Something is very different about the state of the country,” wrote one now-deleted user. “All the small businesses are disappearing. All the chains are going online. From 2004-2011, I could walk into basically any store, fill out a paper app, give a good interview, and get hired. I never had to make an effort to get a low-skill job.”
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“Most of those stores are closed now or running a skeleton staff since everything is online.
So now there’s a ton more competition for the lowest-skilled jobs. There’s a ton more competition for ALL the jobs.”
6. “I would say its a little different this time because it’s the whole world simultaneously,” another user, DeltaForceFish, added. “We can’t rely on countries like China to pull up our economies. If anything, the trade wars are going to do the opposite. Every country is collapsing while also becoming more protectionist. Add in AI, and Gen Z is cooked.”
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7. “The cost of living wasn’t as bad,” user eastsydebiggs put forward. “I graduated college in ’09. We had shit jobs for a while, but you could still survive. Now people with good jobs who make $70k, $80k, and beyond still can’t afford the cost of living.”
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8. “I think the Gen Z experience is just a continuation of the millennial experience, but worse,” added slimersnail. “It’s just steadily getting worse. Eventually, we will all live like peasants, and there will be another FDR to help us out, but until then, the rich get richer, greedy politicians line their pockets, and the rest of us slip further into poverty.”
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9. “People are having trouble even getting minimum wage positions; I can’t remember it being like that before,” user DyKdv2Aw said. “If you were willing to work for minimum wage, you could expect it to take a few weeks, at most a few months, before you found work. Now I have friends who have been applying to hundreds of minimum wage jobs for YEARS and are lucky to get a couple interviews and then never hear anything.”
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10. And finally, user LiveRuido wrote, “When I was young, I thought this crap was a bug. Now I see what Gen Z is going through, and realize it’s a feature.”
Let me know your thoughts on the job market, or feel free to share your own experiences in the comments below — especially if your experience has to do with what generation you’re in. I want to hear from everybody!
Or, if you want to write in but prefer to stay anonymous, feel free to check out the anonymous form below. Who knows — your story could be included in a future BuzzFeed article.
Please note: some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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