AI Is Taking Entry-Level Jobs, But Gen-Z Isn't Worried—Here's Why

A lot gets written about Gen-Z and how this first digitally-native generation has radical feelings about many workplace traditions. Some say they’re “unemployable,” some stress about the Gen-Z “stare” or overly casual dress habits, and critics note how easily Gen-Z quits. But others point out, positively, the value these tech-savvy youth can bring to the workplace.

Still, Gen-Z’s coming of age is happening alongside the arrival of AI—a tech that’s dramatically upending the job market and threatening entry-level jobs traditionally filled by fresh graduates.

So is Gen-Z full of doom and gloom about the job market? Not if new data gathered by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) is to be believed.

Before we get to that: a little of the doom and gloom. A new report from management consultants Oliver Wyman says 43 percent of the global CEOs it surveyed plan to cut the number of junior roles in their company in the next year or so—steeply up from last year’s 17 percent figure. A separate investigation, by Ontario-based edtech company D2L, found 30 percent of surveyed U.S. hiring leaders said their strategy was shifting toward mid-level workers and away from entry-level staff, with AI taking over entry-level duties. More than 50 percent of the respondents said they’ve already “seeing a reduction in the number of basic tasks being delegated to early career professionals due to GenAI.”

This definitely sounds worrying for anyone starting out on their career. But the NSHSS data shows that Gen-Z students are actually optimistic about their future.

In its national survey the society found a huge 94 percent of Gen-Z high school students were “extremely,” “very” or “somewhat” positive about their prospects after graduating college. Some 79 percent were even confident that they’d land a job before or inside six months of graduation. And, demonstrating the confidence of youth, 84 percent told the society that they felt they can make a difference in their lives. Their chief concerns were issues like human rights, the healthcare crisis and hunger. This suggests Gen-Z is a generation “balancing a positive outlook with keen awareness of the state of the world.”

You could put this down to naivety among people who are still very inexperienced, and know little of the perils of the real world. But you should remember that Gen-Z is the first digital native generation, with access to news on global issues available 24/7: this generation has its finger on the pulse. The NSHSS survey of over 11,000 youngsters also supports some long-reported Gen-Z narratives, showing how these students place great importance on social issues and the need for purpose-aligned work.