'This is the new normal': Reddit gives a 23-year-old's dreaded question an honest answer

A post on Reddit’s r/recruitinghell has asked the question that many frustrated job seekers are asking: “Will any of this ever actually get better?”

The original poster is 23, holds a bachelor’s degree, and after a year of searching has ended up at a minimum wage gas station job. They are not asking for resume tips. They are asking something harder: whether they should accept that this is their ceiling, and whether their generation is heading toward a future where homelessness becomes common while wealth continues to concentrate at the top.

It truly looks like a bleak future, no matter what angle you look at it. Reddit’s responses did not offer any comfort.

One commenter offered what they called the “honest to God truth” from a family member allegedly working in the US Labor Department. “No. Quite plainly no. It will NOT get better under the current government,” they wrote, noting the awkward position of receiving this assessment from family members who are simultaneously strong Trump supporters. “Whatever swing happens next in government will just result in games of catch-up that inevitably get reversed four to eight years later,” another added.

Several commenters pointed directly to AI and automation as the main force that makes recovery unlikely. “The job market probably won’t get better overall. AI and robotics will probably hamper future job growth. Just try to do the best you can. Keep close to your family and friends, and try to help each other as much as possible,” one wrote. Another was more concise: “Personally I don’t think the job market is going to get significantly better ever again. Anyone following AI probably knows where things are headed.”

One commenter stripped it down to its most basic elements: “No, this is the new normal and jobs are going overseas.”

Reddit's collective answer suggests that many people believe the answer to the original poster’s question is no, and that the pervasive idea that a bachelor’s degree will pave a reliable pathway to economic stability has been broken.

That is a genuinely difficult thing to sit with at 23. The one note of warmth in an otherwise grim thread came from the commenter who suggested keeping close to family and friends and helping each other where possible.

“Keep close to your family and friends, and try to help each other as much as possible,” their comment stated.

It is not a policy solution. In fact, it really doesn’t offer anything that can help solve the structural problem that’s being pointed out in the status quo, but in a thread where pessimism is the consensus, the reminder that mutual support is still available and still meaningful is nothing.

Read also: ‘Maybe worse than 2008’: Reddit passes its verdict on a brutal job market that’s breaking people