Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8
CUNY Graduate, 22, Faces Tough Job Hunt as AI and Rising Youth Unemployment Darken Outlook
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8

CUNY Graduate, 22, Faces Tough Job Hunt as AI and Rising Youth Unemployment Darken Outlook

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 8

Summary

  • Damir Shavkatov, 22, graduated from Brooklyn College this spring with six internships but still says “the job market is really bad.”
  • Rising unemployment among young college degree holders and the AI boom’s threat to entry-level work are driving that anxiety, even for candidates with strong résumés.
  • Shavkatov’s worries underscore pressure on CUNY, a system of about 250,000 students that has long been one of America’s strongest engines of upward mobility.
  • Many CUNY students come from households earning under $30,000 a year, making a weaker graduate job market a direct test of whether public higher education can still reliably lift families into the middle class.

Insights

Is the college degree's promise of a middle-class life now broken for an entire generation due to the rise of AI?
If AI automates entry-level work, how can new graduates gain the experience they need to build a successful career?
AI was meant to fix hiring, so why are firms now retreating to elite networks to find genuine entry-level talent?