{"id":74410,"date":"2025-08-16T15:56:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/74410\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T15:56:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:56:32","slug":"over-4-million-gen-zers-are-jobless-and-experts-blame-colleges-for-worthless-degrees-and-a-system-of-broken-promises-for-the-rising-number-of-neets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/74410\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 4 million Gen Zers are jobless\u2014and experts blame colleges for \u2018worthless degrees\u2019 and a system of broken promises for the rising number of NEETs"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a mass derailment when it comes to Gen Z and their careers: About a quarter of young people are now deemed NEETs<\/a>\u2014meaning \u201cnot in education, employment, or training.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some Gen Zers may fall into this category because they are taking care of a family member, many have been frozen out of an increasingly tough job market<\/a> where white-collar jobs are seemingly out of reach.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., this translates to an estimated 4.3 million young people<\/a> not in school or at work. Across the pond in the U.K., the situation is also only getting worse, with the number of NEET young people rising<\/a> by over 100,000 in the past year alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A British podcaster<\/a> went so far as to call the situation a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d\u2014and cast a broad-stroke blame on the education system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many cases, young people have been sent off to universities for worthless degrees, which have produced nothing for them at all,\u201d the political commentator, journalist, and author Peter Hitchens said of colleges last week. \u201cAnd they would be much better off if they apprenticed to plumbers or electricians; they would be able to look forward to a much more abundant and satisfying life.\u201d<\/p>\n

With millions of Gen Zers waking up each day feeling left behind, there needs to be a \u201cwake-up call\u201d that includes educational and workplace partners stepping up, Jeff Bulanda, vice president at Jobs for the Future, tells Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Higher education\u2019s role in the rising number of NEET Gen Zers<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that certain fields of study provide a more direct line to a long-lasting career\u2014take, for example, the health care industry: In the U.S. alone, over a million net new jobs are expected to be created<\/a> in the next decade\u2014home health aides, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners, among them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other hand, millions of students graduate each year with degrees that offer a less clear career path, leaving young adults underemployed and struggling to make ends meet. And while the long-term future may be bright\u2014with an average return on investment for a college degree<\/a> being 681% over 40 years, plus promises of the Great Wealth Transfer<\/a>\u2014it may be coming too late for students left with ballooning student loans<\/a> in an uncertain job market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Too much time has been focused on promoting a four-year degree as the only reliable route, despite the payoff being more uneven and uncertain, says Bulanda. Other pathways, like skilled trade professions<\/a>, should be a larger share of the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical that young people are empowered to be informed consumers about their education, equipped with the information they need to weigh the cost, quality, and long-term value of every path available to them,\u201d says Bulanda, who leads the ASA Center for Career Navigation at Jobs for the Future.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \n<\/p>\n

Lewis Maleh<\/a>, CEO of Bentley Lewis, a staffing and recruitment agency, echoes that colleges should do better at communicating with students about career placement as well as nonacademic barriers to entering the workforce, like mental health support and resilience development.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversities aren\u2019t deliberately setting students up to fail, but the system is failing to deliver on its implicit promise,\u201d Maleh tells Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current data challenges the traditional assumption that higher education automatically leads to economic security,\u201d he notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s caused a NEET crisis\u2014and what can be done?<\/p>\n

Rising prices on everything from rent and gasoline to groceries and textbooks have put a damper on Gen Z, with some even having to turn down their dream job offers<\/a> because they cannot afford the commute or work clothes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plus, with others struggling to land a job in a market changing by the minute thanks to artificial intelligence, it\u2019s no wonder Gen Z finds doomscrolling<\/a> at home more enjoyable than navigating an economy completely different from what their teachers promised them.<\/p>\n

The United Nations agency warns<\/a> there are still \u201ctoo many young people\u201d with skills gaps, and getting millions of young people motivated to get back into the classroom or workforce won\u2019t be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Efforts should include ramping up accessible entry points like apprenticeships and internships, especially for disengaged young people, as well as building better bridges between industries and education systems, Maleh says.<\/p>\n

Above all, better and more personalized career guidance is key, Bulanda adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you don\u2019t know what options exist, no one is helping you connect the dots, and the next step feels risky or out of reach\u2014it\u2019s no surprise that so many young people pause,\u201d he says. \u201cThe question isn\u2019t why they disconnect; it\u2019s why we haven\u2019t done a better job of recognizing that the old ways aren\u2019t working anymore, and young people need more options and better support to meet them where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you a Gen Zer struggling to land a job in the current climate? Share your story with preston.fore@fortune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been a mass derailment when it comes to Gen Z and their careers: About a quarter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[45,49,48,2924,2925,12166,2443,8980,129,124,41130,45910,9210,5368],"class_list":{"0":"post-74410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-career-advice","12":"tag-careers","13":"tag-colleges-and-universities","14":"tag-employment","15":"tag-gen-z","16":"tag-job-hunting","17":"tag-jobs","18":"tag-no-copyright","19":"tag-no-index-rec","20":"tag-training","21":"tag-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}