The NYFR says it doesn’t know what is causing the decline, but many wonder if it’s AI. In particular as AI is so good at doing the entry-level tasks college grads would be employed to do.
Humans are terrible about dealing with disaster, until the very last minute (Covid in March 2020 was a good illustration of this). However, they are often surprisingly good at ‘keeping calm, and carrying on’ when they are forced to act. March 2020 also illustrates this.
So far AI/robotics and job replacement is a topic our political class (and their inept economic advisors) have ignored - but for how much longer?
There must be a hidden, middle group for whom the job market is easy, because it’s also shit for people later in their career.
I recently came across a statistic that employers are using AIs for applicant filtering because there’s something like 300 applicants on average for every skilled (white collar) job posting in the US.
Even before AI, some employers would use a program to scan resumes for certain keywords.
There are also companies who already know who they want to hire, but post a listing anyway as a formality.
A combination of being young with a degree, working experience (possibly through an internship), and connections sounds optimal for job seekers, but I think job searching is now a tedious and soul-sucking process for the majority of people.