By Arielle Pardes
Publication Date: 2026-04-25 12:00:00
When Ashley Terrell graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2024, she planned to find a job in marketing, perhaps at a technology company. She had a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a college resume that included a marketing student job for Red Bull. But after months of applying, her only offer was to work in the power tools department at Home Depot. “It was quite a shock,” she told the Guardian. “I looked for jobs in that bathroom at Home Depot every day.”
Terrell’s generation is entering the workforce at a particularly unfortunate moment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, new hiring in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since 2020. While workers of all ages are feeling the pressure of an uncertain economy, it is Generation Z who are the most pessimistic about their career prospects: entry-level jobs are most vulnerable to the effects of artificial intelligence, and some younger workers are seeing their careers stall before they even…