Breaking News English Lesson: Career Apocalypse

Times are hard for young people looking for work. It is becoming more and more difficult for Generation Z (or Gen Zers) to find a job. A Gen Zer is someone born between the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2010s. Students who have just graduated from university cannot find employment. Aki Ito, chief correspondent for the "Business Insider" website, warned of a "career apocalypse". She said uncertainty in the world has "taught today's graduates to prepare for the worst". The British journalist and writer Peter Hitchens said one reason is that people are studying for "worthless degrees". He said young people would "be much better off" if they became plumbers or electricians.

There are over 4 million Gen Zers not in school or work in the USA. In the UK, there is a similar problem. There were 987,000 young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment, or training in December of last year. This has risen by over 100,000 in the past year. Many people cannot find jobs because of artificial intelligence (AI). An increasing number of jobs are now being done by AI. There are fears that teachers, accountants, lawyers, writers, and other jobs could completely disappear. However, some people say many graduates no longer want to do "entry-level" jobs. Instead, they want to enter a company at a management level and get well paid in their very first job.