Opinion | The Economy, A.I. and Work: 12 Gen Z Voters Discuss

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

A scam.

Dawson, 19, Ohio, white, independent, student

Horrible.

Sid, 19, Md., Asian, Democrat, student

Uncertain.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

Dry.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

Unfair.

Emma, 22, Ga., white, Republican, hostess

Inconsistent.

William, 29, Calif., Asian, Democrat, biotechnician

Challenge.

Peter, 25, Ill., white, independent, education

Stunted.

Jennifer, 26, Ill., Asian, Democrat, leasing agent

Difficult.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

Messy.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

Rough.

Jasmine, 23, N.C., Black, Democrat, personal shopper

Struggle.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

When I’m applying on Indeed or any of those websites, there are a bunch of jobs that they have no intention of hiring anybody for. They’re just there to collect data.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

It’s like a desert. There’s nothing really there. You can be out there, but you’re not being hydrated. There’s not enough jobs. There’s not enough people reaching back out.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I said “rough” because the job search is a constant thing of applying to job after job after job — and then not even hearing back. Or you hear back, but then it’s already filled. I’ve applied to between 30 and 50 jobs in one cycle.

Jennifer, 26, Ill., Asian, Democrat, leasing agent

I just feel like I will never have enough experience to match up against other candidates. I have years of experience in medical and health reception, and I’ve had people tell me that I didn’t have enough experience or that someone else was more qualified. And I’m just seeing the same pattern repeat itself over and over. An entry-level job is never really an entry-level job anymore.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

Like Jennifer said, you can never have enough experience, even for entry level, because entry level is not entry level anymore. I believe it’s definitely who you know, getting a position.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

I don’t have the experience of somebody who’s been exploring the job market for a while. But I do think that there’s probably more issues with entry-level jobs. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but I can’t even get the most basic jobs in my industry, assistant stuff. Production assistant is something in the film world where you go sweep a set or you bring people coffee. It’s impossible to even get those jobs.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

Yeah, even trying to get an overnight job at Amazon or a grocery store, they’re not even hiring those anymore.

Dawson, 19, Ohio, white, independent, student

My answer is a conglomeration of everyone else’s answer. It’s unjust, and it feels like there’s no jobs. We have all these entry-level job openings that say you must have five-plus years of experience. I’m going into the job market in a couple of years, and I just find it very unfair and very confusing. And I feel like in a lot of colleges, it’s not taught how to get a job. A lot of colleges don’t have good job placement, for example.

Jasmine, 23, N.C., Black, Democrat, personal shopper

No. I graduated college almost two years ago at this point, and things felt really different compared to now. The market has not been the most forgiving, especially for someone like me, who’s entry level and still trying to get into their career. You get an interview, and then they don’t get back to you. They ghost you.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I’m a bit lucky with the colleges that I went to. They were a bit smaller, so there was a little bit more personalization. I got quite a bit of experience with being able to do résumé reflections, and even taking classes that I could put on a résumé. But in my field, in particular, a lot of these entry-level positions are seasonal jobs. And it kind of was getting to a point where I saw jobs I really wanted to do, but they want a master’s degree, at minimum. So that’s why I’m back in college, to try to get more of that experience so that I could actually get more permanent jobs and not be having to hop around the country to different three-, six-month-long jobs.

William, 29, Calif., Asian, Democrat, biotechnician

Yeah, you need to have a degree to get into a certain area. It’s the way to unlock the door for the entry-level job. But without it, then it could be even harder, because for a more technical job, some technical background for it is required. But yeah, but in terms of life experience, I don’t think college itself is preparing us for it.

Emma, 22, Ga., white, Republican, hostess

A degree is necessary to even be looked at. I know even some internships where you have to be pursuing a graduate degree. So I have friends that are getting a graduate degree. But the reason I got a whole degree is because I needed a degree to do my job, even if the degree didn’t teach me everything. Experience teaches you more than a degree would, in my opinion.

Peter, 25, Ill., white, independent, education

I’m in a pretty specialized field in environmental science that my college experience really helped prepare me for. But the paradox we keep running into with the job market, especially for young people, is that you’re either expected to do something for near-free, volunteering, or you get to know somebody by volunteering somewhere for a long time or by doing something seasonal or something part-time. A degree almost doesn’t feel like enough anymore. It’s like you have that degree, but now you have to have all this other experience. A lot of my friends have a lot of those similar experiences.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I’ve been a mentor to some students who are like: How do you keep going with how hard it is? And I’m just passionate about what I do and about wildlife. It is a rough field. But it’s very hard for me to see myself doing anything else. I’d rather have a little bit of that extra challenge than be stuck in a place, doing something that, when I look back, I go: I wish I could have done something different.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

I chose the secure path, but I also understand the other path, because I’m actually in between both. I do have a secure job, but I have been pursuing something within the film industry, and that’s more unstable. Having a secure job has helped me not have to worry about rent or things like that, or not have to worry about other bills that arise. It’s not something that makes me happy. But it’s affording me the opportunities to do other things within the industry in the dream job that I want.

Jasmine, 23, N.C., Black, Democrat, personal shopper

I chose the more secure option. Right now, I’m working a job that’s not really my cup of tea. I don’t really like it, but it’s easier to just have that secure job, knowing in mind that you want to do something better. It helps make looking for something else easier because you’re not worried about: Oh, I don’t have enough money.

Jennifer, 26, Ill., Asian, Democrat, leasing agent

My ideal setting would be hybrid. I would love having the flexibility but also having structure.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

My father needs my assistance. He’s had some health issues. So now I would want a little more flexibility because of him.

William, 29, Calif., Asian, Democrat, biotechnician

It’s about flexibility. I’m not a highly interactive person, but sometimes interacting with other colleagues is good. If you’re just working remotely, there’s not that option.

Dawson, 19, Ohio, white, independent, student

It all comes back to flexibility. Gen Z is going into the work force now, and we want our work life to be an addition to our life and not just our main priority in life.

Emma, 22, Ga., white, Republican, hostess

Right now, I have a part-time remote internship, and I’ve also had an internship that was in the office 40 hours a week. I was there all the time. I was driving 45 minutes to get to work and then 45 minutes to get back. So once I get home, I’m exhausted. But I love being connected with people. Right now, with my hybrid internship, I’m not talking to that many people a day. If I am getting on a Teams call, it’s only with one or two people on average, so I kind of miss that human connection.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

What Emma said is actually correct. You need that social component with people that are not within your home. Hybrid you get to save a little bit of money traveling, as well.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

I’m 50-50 with being in office and being remote. I feel like it’s more of a mental thing. I work primarily on the phones. And being 100 percent remote, if I’m taking a break, I’m still at home. I’m still within walls. I don’t get as much time outside. So being hybrid, I’m still able to get out of the house every once in a while, to change my environment and be around people. But then there’s the days when I am remote where maybe I don’t prefer to be around people. Also, I’ve been in office and gotten sick from being there, even just one day.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

The central definition probably just means working hard. But to me, it kind of seems like sacrificing your life and things you enjoy to pursue success. I know other people my age talk about hustling, and they mean not hanging out with friends, not doing things that they enjoy, simply so that they can get as much money as possible or build up that foundation for success. Obviously, I want to be successful, and I want to put in the work, but that’s not a trade that I think is fair, that we should be asking of anybody, especially young people. We can’t be asking people not to enjoy their lives simply to get basic jobs.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

I think it can be demeaning to some people, because it’s almost, if you’re not hustling hard enough, you’re not doing what you need to do. But sometimes we can do our best, and it’s not enough for what we’re looking for.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I try to avoid the idea of hustle culture myself. I try to follow a policy of: I’m only going to work this amount of hours per day with grad school work that I have to work on. Because without having a set schedule, it can be really easy to go over that time. But I think the general idea of hustle culture kind of becoming a thing, especially within my age group, is the idea that you always have to be productive. And there’s a thing I think of, even people picking up hobbies, where it’s like: OK, well, then how can you make that into something that you can make money out of?

Dawson, 19, Ohio, white, independent, student

We live in a culture that is just dominated by consumerism and a love of money. It’s money, money, money. That’s the most important thing. And that’s why we’re seeing this hustle culture, because especially in my generation, and especially in my generation of men, it’s all about money. There’s no balance, and there’s no prioritization of the actual finer things in life — like having fun, having friends, raising or having a family.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

Hustle culture is having to work overtime to afford basic necessities. And I don’t think it’s sustainable long term for people. I just think that we’re meant to be more than our jobs. It’s demoralizing. You probably have multiple jobs trying to get multiple streams of income. And everybody is telling you that this is what you have to do to be successful. But it’s like: What happened to being able to have one job, to afford to be able to live off of that — versus having to work three jobs, having to own a business and do smaller things to just get by? There is nothing in your life other than your job, and I think we are more than that. We are more than our careers and all those things.

Emma, 22, Ga., white, Republican, hostess

From my parents, to an extent. My mom’s always been a hard worker. She didn’t go to college, but she’s built this life for herself. But seeing things my own way, going on LinkedIn, sometimes is a struggle for me. Because even though I know I’m successful, I know I’ll be OK, it’s hard to see these other people that graduated with a similar degree from my college get these amazing opportunities that I’m scared that I’m missing out on. Or fearing that because they got it, that means that I’m not going to get it. It’s one less job from the few that are out there now. LinkedIn is a hard place for me sometimes.

Sid, 19, Md., Asian, Democrat, student

I see hustle culture as a double-edged sword. I think there’s one side of it that is actually kind of advantageous, and I see it as a good thing, because you’re incentivizing people to contribute meaningful things to society. But then there’s also this edge to the sword that’s, like, kids my age who will go on social media and see these influencers selling courses, and they’re in Dubai with these supercars. And then everyone my age is like: Whoa, I want to be like that. I want to go and sell courses. And I want to go invest in Bitcoin. It can also lead you down this really negative path that’s really fake and artificial and shadowy.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

Occasionally. I just use it for résumé stuff. If I want to try to write a good cover letter, I’ll use ChatGPT in conjunction with Google Search and other websites to see how to make my résumé more competitive. I don’t really use it for anything else.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

I’m a daily user, and similarly, I use it almost entirely around job stuff, like résumé building. I’ll apply to multiple jobs across different sectors, and I can’t have one résumé tailored to all of those, because I’m not going to get hired for anything if they don’t actually look at it. I really would prefer not to use it. I tried to resist it for a while, but it’s the reality.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

I agree that I try not to use it. I feel like it’s really bad for the environment. But like Ethan said, we do have to have a tailored résumé for each job. It can’t just be one résumé anymore. You have to have the keywords. And if you don’t, then you probably don’t even get looked at. But with regard to civilization, I feel like A.I. is something that should not have been created.

Peter, 25, Ill., white, independent, education

It’s trying to get you addicted to it. We’ve already seen issues with mental health, chatbot psychosis. That’s really toxic for society — not to mention the potential environmental issues. For specifically tailoring intelligence to a specific task or need, I think that could be helpful. But we’d have to take a big turn in our current trajectory.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

There are all these technologies trying to generate videos and whatnot. And I have to hope that people are not drawn to that, because I feel like it is inherently vapid. It’s a regurgitation of human art. It’s demoralizing. But I have to hope that in the long term, that’s not the case. At least right now, there are absolutely jobs being missed out on because of this advancement in technology. And people are so desperate to try to get content out there fast, just as fast as possible, whatever it is. It could be the biggest flop you’ve ever seen. And as long as people will watch it, it makes money. And that’s just tragic — and replaces otherwise important human voices.

Jennifer, 26, Ill., Asian, Democrat, leasing agent

I graduated in 2021, during Covid, and before that, I was going through my courses while being locked down at home and with ChatGPT available. My knowledge declined from using ChatGPT. And I’ve had some friends that are teachers, pre-Covid and after Covid, who say that ChatGPT is kind of killing their kids’ ability to learn.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

I think it could be good, but from what I’ve been seeing, it’s just the same companies cycling money to each other. It’s just a bubble that exists within these same companies. One of my friends works for Block, and they just cut a lot of their staff because of A.I. She was lucky enough to not be one of them. But it’s on its way to take away jobs, not create more. If you think about data centers, people — the way that they propose it to towns and cities is that it will create jobs, but it’s only, like, 10 of them. I think when it first was proposed, specifically when I think about OpenAI and Sam Altman, it was a lot about medical research and being able to do early detection and work in conjunction with doctors to save lives. But it has become very bad. So I think, for the economy, it will work for the same five, 10 companies, but for everybody else, it’s going to hurt. I think it’s going to hurt us in the long run.

Jasmine, 23, N.C., Black, Democrat, personal shopper

Companies are really greedy. So the reason they invest in A.I. in the first place is because they think it’s too expensive to pay people. But then I read an article about some companies that have invested in A.I. that are either seeing no change or a loss. It’s like they’re investing in it for no reason.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

A.I. has been really beneficial to my research. We have hundreds of thousands of hours of recordings to go through that would be impossible for even a group of several people. We have an A.I. software going through to identify bird songs, but we still have humans confirming it all. And I feel like there’s a lot of people that are putting way too much trust into A.I. and going: Oh, we can get rid of the human element altogether. But I was honestly kind of terrified when I was on LinkedIn the other day and got an advertisement for a wildlife biologist position at an A.I. company. They wanted a wildlife biologist to test their A.I. models. And I wondered if this was going to be used to replace wildlife biologists and managers, when you still need that human element.

Peter, 25, Ill., white, independent, education

Right now, it is fundamentally bad. But I don’t think the technology itself, in the abstract, is necessarily fundamentally bad. But what it’s being put toward right now, other than the specific uses, like Percy mentions, are fundamentally bad or fundamentally not helpful.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

Yeah, I agree, because A.I. is being used in my job. I do some indexing. I sort documents, and we use A.I. for that. It reads things based off the parameters we’ve given it, and that makes our jobs a lot easier when it comes to sorting things, to making sure documents go to the right department. But I think what Peter said is that the way it’s being used and being applied is more: How much money can I make from this? And: How can I deplete resources while I do it? Instead of: How can I change the world in a positive way and add to it?

William, 29, Calif., Asian, Democrat, biotechnician

Definitely. A.I. is batting for both sides. You have the applicant using A.I. to help them write a more descriptive or suitable résumé, and H.R. is using A.I. to go through a thousand applicants with just a few clicks. But at the same time, since it’s easier for an applicant to apply now with maybe a few clicks, from the H.R. perspective, there could be thousands of applicants. It’s very hard for them to look at every single one of them, even, let’s say, just like for three minutes or a couple of minutes.

Jasmine, 23, N.C., Black, Democrat, personal shopper

I can understand it from the employer’s perspective. They have thousands of applicants, so they want to use a system to easily go through them. But then you get an email at 2 a.m. saying: Oh, you got rejected — despite being so confident that you had a chance to get past the applicant system.

Dawson, 19, Ohio, white, independent, student

I was talking to some people from my university’s career center the other day. And they told me that companies are using A.I. to screen out applicants who are using certain résumé templates. Which I thought was really interesting, because I had been using résumé templates. And my career center made me change my résumé because they said it was going to get screened out.

Tope, 28, Ga., Black, independent, health care

I think there definitely needs to be more regulation when it comes to A.I. and how it’s being used in different industries. Unfortunately, we have lobbyists who have more money than most American people. So it’s really hard to find politicians who are willing to not take money from PACs and all that stuff to actually do things that will create meaningful change for their constituents. But I do think there’s a need for more intense regulation for A.I., just because we’re seeing the effects of how it’s working, and it’s not great.

Ethan, 22, Calif., white, Democrat, production assistant

Something has to be done. These companies are not going to do it themselves, because as long as there’s money to be made, why would they? So either the government — or in Hollywood, you have unions that are trying to implement clauses about when A.I. is applicable, when it can be used, how it can’t replace specific jobs. But even then, the studios find ways to go around that. I think the only answer, unfortunately, is some kind of government regulation.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I do think there has to be somebody that is stepping in and addressing some of these issues that we’re having. But there’s also the problem of how fast it’s growing and improving. A few years ago, you typed in a prompt or something, and it came out, and you could clearly tell that it was fake. Now you’re getting stuff where you cannot tell if that is real or fake. And that can lead to some very concerning scenarios. There has to be — government really has to step in to catch up to where A.I. is right now. And even, potentially by the time that they put anything in place, A.I. could be growing past that.

Emma, 22, Ga., white, Republican, hostess

I don’t even think that it would be possible to have the government make any decisions about A.I. It’s a very understudied thing, and it’s very new to society. I feel like the only way you could limit it would be environmentally — kind of descaling it in a sense. I just think it would be impossible for the government to do anything that would make a big enough impact to matter.

Percy, 25, Maine, white, Democrat, graduate student

I have friends who have much higher-paying jobs. I’m only getting paid like $10 an hour. Some of my friends who got jobs right out of grad school are making over $50 an hour. And they’re getting to do things that I have to save up longer for. I can’t really go on trips and get to do things that I was hoping to do in my 20s that some other people in their 20s are able to do.

Orrel, 28, N.Y., Black, Democrat, tax associate

I do have a somewhat secure job — it’s part-time, doing taxes. But it’s important having people in your circle understanding this job market is just getting worse and worse. Yeah, you’re not able to do trips, but you’re able to hang out here and there. It all depends who you hang out with and who understands what’s going on in the world. Even though I have people that make a lot more money than me, they also understand all these jobs are not promised.

Michelah, 27, N.J., Black, Democrat, customer service

My fiancé is in a completely different field, completely different financial situation, whereas I’ve taken a job to try to get my foot in the door with a new career. So it has set me back financially. And so sometimes, we want to plan a trip, and I may not have the funds to do so because of the position I’m in. It can set me back a little bit in my relationship. We like to travel, but because of me, we have to change plans. Or we can’t do it this time — we have to do it next year.

Jennifer, 26, Ill., Asian, Democrat, leasing agent

When I was unemployed last year, it really hindered my ability to just be happy. In my social life, I wasn’t really talking to my friends, because it would make me feel guilty for not having a job while they were talking about their jobs. It would make me feel bad when I shouldn’t have felt bad — because I should have been happy for them, because they are my friends and successful. I found myself kind of being sheltered. I didn’t really see my friends much. I didn’t really even get dinner or do anything like that until I found something that I felt secure with. I just feel like my whole world was just turned upside down, and just felt immense guilt and anxiety.