The increase in the unemployment rate of educated young people in New York

The narrowing unemployment gap between educated and uneducated youth in New York has raised doubts about the value of higher education

According to Ambassador Arjan, for decades, higher education was considered one of the surest paths to attaining a stable job, but recent data from the New York labor market shows that this advantage is diminishing for young job seekers.

According to published official reports, the gap in the unemployment rate between young people with a university degree and peers without a degree in the metropolitan area of New York has been greatly reduced; So that in the first half of this year, the unemployment rate of people without a degree was even slightly lower than that of university graduates.

Labor market experts, citing this new statistic and comparing it with a decade ago, as well as paying attention to employment advertisements from companies, believe that this trend can be a sign of the impact of artificial intelligence on administrative and office jobs at the preliminary level.

Using the Current Population Survey data available through the IPUMS database, Business Insider has examined the 12-month moving average unemployment rate for people aged 22 to 27 in the New York metropolitan area, and confirmed that the job market is tighter for applicants without a degree or with less than a bachelor's degree.

Based on these data (bottom graph), the unemployment rate of youth with a bachelor's degree or higher and those without a university degree was equal to 7.7 percent in July. However, in the month of September, the unemployment rate of the uneducated group reached 8.1%, while this rate for people with university degrees was 7.3%.

This is while the report published by Mark Levin, the financial affairs officer of New York City last April, shows that this is the first time in statistical records that the unemployment rate of young people with a bachelor's degree or higher is slightly higher than the unemployment rate of peers without a university degree.

According to labor market experts, this shift occurred after the unemployment rate increased among new graduates and decreased among young people without university degrees; A group that, according to these experts, has historically faced a relatively high unemployment rate.

Reduction of job opportunities in preliminary jobs

However, the reduction of the advantage of a university degree in New York has occurred in a situation where both the employment and layoffs are at a low level, and in this situation, on the one hand, the number of layoffs has remained limited, and on the other hand, new job opportunities have decreased.

According to labor market experts, this trend is especially evident in industries such as technology, which have been most affected by artificial intelligence, and entry-level job opportunities have decreased in them.

Technical skills, many of which have now been replaced by artificial intelligence, have become less important, according to the New York City Auditor's Office report; In contrast, soft skills and specialized knowledge related to a company or industry have become more important.

Labor market experts believe that this change affects young workers the most; People who have not yet had enough opportunity to acquire knowledge and experience specific to their work environment.

Levin, the head of New York City's financial affairs, has also considered the change in the employment situation of New York's youth on the social network X as another possible sign of the impact of artificial intelligence on the city's labor market.

Growing skepticism about the value of college education

The interesting thing to note here is that at the same time as the publication of these statistics, as well as the significant change in the labor market in this metropolis, statistics across the country also show that more Americans are skeptical about the value of higher education, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

According to the Gallup Institute survey published at the end of September, only 31% of Americans consider studying at university "very important"; This figure is the lowest recorded so far. In contrast, the share of people who do not consider university education to be very important has increased by almost the same amount.

This decline has been observed in various demographic groups, including those who previously placed more importance on college education.

This is while the Gallup report suggests that the increase in university costs is part of the reason for the change in the attitude of Americans.