How AI Is Killing The Value Of A College Degree — Transcript

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1. 0:01On May 16th, 2025.
2. 0:03I woke up and was ready to get into my graduation gown
3. 0:07for the day of celebration of Villanova's graduation
4. 0:11ceremony. My family and friends came from pretty
5. 0:15much across the country to see me walk across the stage
6. 0:18and receive my diploma.
7. 0:19Michael. Sean.
8. 0:20Mathias. Yeah Michael.
9. 0:23I was really on top of the world.
10. 0:25Super excited to finally have the diploma that shows
11. 0:29my hard work over those four years.
12. 0:31I was super excited to apply those skills to the job
13. 0:34market, to an employer, and finally be an
14. 0:36independent adult.
15. 0:38Flash forward a couple months into the job search.
16. 0:41It's been a little demoralizing.
17. 0:43The job market has been very tough,
18. 0:45especially for the new grads.
19. 0:47I have been on my job search since November 2024.
20. 0:50I've been applying anywhere and everywhere, and it has
21. 0:53been a little difficult to even get to the initial
22. 0:57interviews that I want to get to.
23. 0:59The job market is kind of trash right now.
24. 1:02I mean, it's really difficult. It's really
25. 1:04difficult for people who have many years of
26. 1:05experience. So it's going to be difficult for college
27. 1:07kids.
28. 1:08The rise of youth unemployment is worrisome
29. 1:11for the individual worker.
30. 1:12We can see that graduating in a recession leaves
31. 1:15long-lasting scars for decades after.
32. 1:18These workers are a vital part of the labor market,
33. 1:20and if they're having a hard time,
34. 1:22that means that the economy could have a hard time.
35. 1:25For the broader economy, these youth workers might be
36. 1:28early indicators that the overall economy is slowing
37. 1:31down, or maybe even heading towards a recession.
38. 1:33For the first time in modern history,
39. 1:35a bachelor's degree is no longer a reliable path to
40. 1:39professional employment.
41. 1:51If you look at the overall labor market, it's still
42. 1:53doing strong. Unemployment rates,
43. 1:56in general, are still fairly low.
44. 1:58But then when you zoom in on the young workers,
45. 2:01they seem to be struggling.
46. 2:02The unemployment rate among young U.S.
47. 2:04workers aged 16 to 24 stood at 10.4% in September.
48. 2:09It's generally been trending upward since April 2023,
49. 2:12when it dipped to the lowest point since the pandemic.
50. 2:15And in particular, there's been a worrisome
51. 2:17rise in unemployment rates among recent college
52. 2:21graduates. Usually, we think of those as being
53. 2:23some of the most, safest workers in our
54. 2:26economy, but that pattern seems to be flipping right
55. 2:30now.
56. 2:30I think that that is because two factors.
57. 2:33One is the supply of workers with a bachelor's degree is
58. 2:38increasing. But at the same time,
59. 2:40partly because of AI, the demand for workers with
60. 2:44a bachelor's degree is not increasing anymore.
61. 2:47So we have a glut of people with a bachelor's degree.
62. 2:50Their wage growth is growing more slowly and with AI
63. 2:54continuing to automate more and more jobs,
64. 2:57I expect that the trend to continue.
65. 3:00Artificial intelligence has allowed some corporate
66. 3:02giants to hire fewer workers,
67. 3:04and some have even begun shrinking their workforces
68. 3:06as they integrate more automation.
69. 3:09Goldman Sachs says it could displace 6 to 7% of the U.S.
70. 3:12workforce over the next decade.
71. 3:15Young workers are feeling AI's impact the most.
72. 3:18A Stanford study finds that since 2022,
73. 3:20unemployment for 22 to 25 year olds in highly AI
74. 3:24exposed jobs has dropped 13%,
75. 3:27while older workers and those in less exposed roles
76. 3:30remain steady or growing.
77. 3:32I think AI and machine learning is absolutely
78. 3:35taking entry-level careers from new graduates like
79. 3:38myself. From a business standpoint,
80. 3:40it makes a lot of sense.
81. 3:41You get something that can produce results a lot
82. 3:44quicker. I really can't blame employers for making
83. 3:48those steps, in my mind the right direction to save
84. 3:51money cut costs, but it's a little
85. 3:52frustrating from my standpoint because I'm
86. 3:54looking for a full-time career somewhere to really
87. 3:57put my skills to work.
88. 3:58Especially for larger corporations that are trying
89. 4:00to go through AI transformation.
90. 4:01Some of it could be tied to AI from a perspective of
91. 4:05they're trying to let go of people in other departments
92. 4:07so that they can invest more in AI.
93. 4:09But at the same time, I think what's also
94. 4:11happening is the AI systems that can write code,
95. 4:14especially at junior level, has gotten really good.
96. 4:16And because of that, we are already seeing,
97. 4:19especially in tech companies,
98. 4:21there's a need for a number of junior engineers has
99. 4:23gotten lower.
100. 4:24The Federal Reserve has also taken notice.
101. 4:27You see a significant number of companies either
102. 4:29announcing that they are not going to be doing much
103. 4:32hiring, or actually doing layoffs.
104. 4:34Much of the time they're talking about AI and what it
105. 4:36can do. So we're watching that very carefully.
106. 4:40But there is another element here which is more and more
107. 4:43young people are going to college and get a much
108. 4:47higher rate than the baby boomers who are now
109. 4:49retiring. So what's happening is that the
110. 4:51workforce is becoming more and more educated over time,
111. 4:55and perhaps to the degree that we have a glut of
112. 4:58college grads.
113. 4:59AI might be having a little bit of an impact. But I
114. 5:01think right now what's really driving a lot of this
115. 5:04youth unemployment is the fact that businesses just in
116. 5:07general are not bringing on new workers.
117. 5:10And so whether you're unemployed or whether you're
118. 5:11trying to get in the labor market for the first time
119. 5:14right now is a really difficult time to find a
120. 5:16job.
121. 5:17Just a few years ago, many companies,
122. 5:19especially tech firms, went on a hiring spree
123. 5:22during the pandemic era.
124. 5:24For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic,
125. 5:26Amazon's workforce ballooned to 1.6 million employees
126. 5:29globally in 2021.
127. 5:31By 2024, the count had shrunk to 1.5 million,
128. 5:34and 2025 is no stranger to layoffs.
129. 5:37Amazon saying this morning it's going to lay off about
130. 5:3914,000 corporate employees as it restructures for the
131. 5:42AI era, marking the latest move in a multiyear effort
132. 5:46to streamline operations and shift resources toward its
133. 5:49biggest bets, including generative AI.
134. 5:51Experts are divided on whether Covid-19 hiring
135. 5:54sprees are behind the layoffs.
136. 5:56Over hiring they did in the Covid era,
137. 5:59when they didn't actually need to,
138. 6:00the results of that are being seen now.
139. 6:02So correlation doesn't imply causation,
140. 6:05like it's not because of AI that people are losing jobs.
141. 6:07In fact, because of AI, we see a lot more
142. 6:10empowerment in people.
143. 6:11Like small business owners are able to take advantage
144. 6:14of AI and build amazing companies.
145. 6:17We should probably not use this argument much anymore.
146. 6:20It's been a long time.
147. 6:21I think if there was overhiring,
148. 6:23it's already been adjusted in '23,
149. 6:26'24. We are now November '25.
150. 6:29I think it's no longer a big impact.
151. 6:32But I would say that the period of strong labor
152. 6:35shortages that we had in '21,
153. 6:37'22, '23, I think it forced companies,
154. 6:41even without AI, or not taking AI out of the
155. 6:45story here, it just forced companies with severe labor
156. 6:49shortage to learn how to do things with fewer people.
157. 6:52And that may be another factor that is impacting
158. 6:56labor market conditions now.
159. 7:00Not only are young workers finding it difficult to
160. 7:03enter the job market, but the young professional
161. 7:05workforce is also shrinking.
162. 7:07A recent study by compensation platform Pave
163. 7:09finds that between January 2023 and July 2025,
164. 7:13the number of young workers at large public technology
165. 7:16companies fell by more than half.
166. 7:18Private technology companies also saw a decline.
167. 7:20The impact that this rising youth unemployment rate
168. 7:23could have, you know, you start playing this out
169. 7:25over the course of years and you say,
170. 7:27you know, if these workers have a hard time getting
171. 7:29into jobs now, that impacts spending,
172. 7:31right? That impacts them going out,
173. 7:33buying things that also impacts like their earning
174. 7:35capabilities, money going into taxes,
175. 7:37you know, which ultimately impacts government spending,
176. 7:40as well, right. And so you start to add these things
177. 7:42together and it really can lead to further widening in
178. 7:46income inequality.
179. 7:48Economic inequality in the US is getting worse.
180. 7:50The new Oxfam report shows that between 1989 and 2022,
181. 7:54the top 1% gained about 101 times more wealth than the
182. 7:58median household.
183. 7:59We will see a much higher inequality.
184. 8:02It's a problem today and it will be an even bigger
185. 8:05problem in the future.
186. 8:06It will be a problem that will have political
187. 8:09consequences. I think what will eventually happen is
188. 8:12that there will be growing demand for income
189. 8:15redistribution.
190. 8:16If you have increasing unemployment rates,
191. 8:19especially among young workers,
192. 8:20it might leave some with being dissatisfied with the
193. 8:24current economy and political climate.
194. 8:26That could have some implications for, in
195. 8:27general, the political debate.
196. 8:29And so we need to really be thinking about, you know,
197. 8:31how do we make sure that we're taking care of this
198. 8:34right now? Because it could have big spending,
199. 8:37big economic implications down the road.
200. 8:41The job market is challenging for young
201. 8:43workers as many entry-level positions.
202. 8:45A launch pad for new graduates are disappearing.
203. 8:48At the same time, however, Handshake,
204. 8:50a career site for college students and recent grads,
205. 8:52reports that employers are increasingly seeking
206. 8:55entry-level hires who are fluent in AI.
207. 8:57We're actually seeing from companies is an increase in
208. 9:00desire for early talent to have AI skills.
209. 9:04So we've actually seen a 5x increase in our job postings
210. 9:08since 2023 that list AI skills as part of the job
211. 9:13requirements or qualifications.
212. 9:14And even on internships, it's been a 4x increase in
213. 9:17that same amount of time.
214. 9:19So employers are interested in early talent that is
215. 9:22familiar and comfortable using AI.
216. 9:24They do expect that early talent will be able to use
217. 9:27AI in their functional roles,
218. 9:29and that they will know how to balance both their
219. 9:31expertise and knowledge, as well as productivity and
220. 9:34efficiency.
221. 9:35I think, especially the younger workforce,
222. 9:37should realize that this AI is starting to automate a
223. 9:41lot of stuff. AI started to augment a lot of stuff,
224. 9:43so learning how to use the tools will make them stand
225. 9:46out when they are applying for jobs, like knowing how
226. 9:48to prompt better, knowing how to use multiple
227. 9:52gen AI systems if needed, where some gen AI systems
228. 9:55are good for certain kinds of tasks.
229. 9:57Knowing about all of these and having that literacy to
230. 10:00be able to do different tasks better in a more
231. 10:03efficient way because they've just become more
232. 10:05learned on AI tools, will allow them to stand
233. 10:08out.
234. 10:08We should not be afraid of AI.
235. 10:10We should actually be embracing AI for all of the
236. 10:13places that it can help.
237. 10:14And what it doesn't replace is really smart,
238. 10:17creative people, and we see that all across
239. 10:20the board.
240. 10:20In today's AI driven workforce.
241. 10:22Some career experts also emphasize the importance of
242. 10:25networking in navigating the job market.
243. 10:27First and foremost, if you're someone who's
244. 10:29graduating right now and you haven't done internships
245. 10:32while you've been in school, if you haven't been working
246. 10:35on building connections with people who are in the
247. 10:37professional working world, you need to hurry up and get
248. 10:40on that because the number one thing you can do to
249. 10:43separate yourself from the pack is to have those
250. 10:45relationships. To have someone who remembers you,
251. 10:48who had a good experience working with you as an
252. 10:50intern, and who wants to see you succeed.
253. 10:52And I don't ever want to undervalue or underestimate
254. 10:56the power of those personal connections.
255. 10:58I have a lot of hope going forward for the job market.
256. 11:01I'm a little bit of an optimist in that sense.
257. 11:04I think, you know, hard times create strong
258. 11:06people, and I think this is just a little bit of a
259. 11:08difficult time for those new graduates.
260. 11:11And ultimately, those new graduates are
261. 11:12going to become stronger people. And I think they
262. 11:15will not take their jobs for granted in the future.
263. 11:18And I think it'll ultimately make a stronger return.