Gen Z is booing AI at graduation. But 2 other villains add to the hiring nightmare | Fortune

Graduation crowds have reacted with boos when speakers mention artificial intelligence, reflecting widespread Gen Z concern about reduced job opportunities. Polling shows declining enthusiasm for AI and rising negative feelings among young Americans. A large labor-market analysis using millions of new hire records and job postings across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia finds that the share of junior hires has dropped 8 to 11 percentage points below 2019 baselines in every country studied. Entry-level hiring is down 14% to 29% depending on the country. The timing of the hiring decline overlaps with the rise of generative AI, but the data suggests the culprit may not be AI alone.

"In a working paper published this month, economists Peter John Lambert of the London School of Economics and Yannick Schindler of Oxford's Ellison Institute of Technology analyzed 243 million new hire records and 407 million job postings across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia between 2017 and 2025. The junior share of new hires - the fraction of jobs going to early-career workers - has fallen roughly 8 to 11 percentage points below 2019 baselines in every one of those countries. Entry-level hires are down 14% to 29% depending on the country."

"The prevailing academic theory, echoed in viral LinkedIn posts and anxious graduation speeches, blamed generative AI. That makes sense on the surface, as this entry-level hiring collapse has coincided almost exactly with ChatGPT's arrival in late 2022"

"Eighty-one percent of Gen Z believes AI will reduce job opportunities, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll - more pessimistic than any other generation. A Gallup survey of 1,500 young Americans found enthusiasm for AI has dropped from 36% to 27% over the past year, while negative feelings have surged. These are graduates stepping into the worst entry-level job market in years, and they've absorbed the conventional wisdom: the robots took their jobs."

"This graduation season, a ritual played out on campuses from Tucson to Orlando: a speaker mentions artificial intelligence, and the caps-and-gowns crowd erupts in boos. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt got it at the University of Arizona. A real estate executive got it at the University of Central Florida, where one graduate even shouted "AI sucks!" into a microphone. A Nashville music executive at Middle Tennessee State told students to "deal with it." The videos went viral within hours."

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