Young workers entering the labor market are confronting a difficult mix of weak hiring, heightened expectations for entry-level roles, and growing concern that Artificial Intelligence is reducing the need for routine early-career work. Hiring in the United States has slumped to its lowest rate since 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for Americans between 22 and 27 is now at its highest level since the pandemic. In a 2025 LinkedIn survey, 63% of executives reported that Artificial Intelligence would replace at least some of the work of entry-level employees at their companies.
That pressure is pushing some recent graduates away from the traditional corporate path and toward entrepreneurship, freelance work, and self-directed portfolio building. Ashley Terrell graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2024 with plans for a marketing career, but after months of applications, the only job offer she received was at Home Depot. She began creating branded videos on her own, first pitching companies directly and sometimes working for free, then building enough experience to secure paid projects and a part-time marketing role for a local distillery. Others described similar pivots after failed applications, layoffs, or stalled career starts, choosing to create work for themselves when formal entry points seemed to disappear.
Several young founders and operators said Artificial Intelligence tools helped them take on responsibilities that would once have required larger teams or more experience. Suhit Agarwal, who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2025, said he used Artificial Intelligence tools including Claude Code while helping launch startups after failing to land interviews at major tech companies. Madison Hsieh, a 25-year-old program manager at Amazon, said she used the coding platform Cursor to build a prototype for a social media app in about a month. She said a comparable effort would otherwise have taken several months and several skilled engineers. Investors and researchers cited in the report said low-code tools are making it easier for individuals to build products and even companies with fewer employees, while also shrinking some traditional junior roles.
Entrepreneurship is still presented as a risky route rather than a guaranteed solution. Most startups do not get funding and do not succeed, and founders who succeed tend to be better connected and better resourced. Even so, many younger workers see ownership as a more realistic form of security than waiting for stable employment to return. A global report from Fiverr found that 67% of gen Z workers wanted to have multiple income streams in order to feel financially secure in today’s economy. About half of those respondents also believed that traditional employment would soon become “obsolete”. Across these experiences, the appeal of entrepreneurship lies less in glamour than in control, adaptability, and the chance to build a career as the labor market changes.
