I recently read Derek Thompson’s “Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market” in The Atlantic. While it offers a timely diagnosis of rising unemployment among young, college-educated workers, it opens the door to a much deeper—and more urgent—conversation about how generative AI and systemic shifts are reshaping the early career landscape. Thompson highlights a 5.8% unemployment rate among recent graduates and identifies three core drivers: 1. The lingering effects of past economic downturns 2. The declining return on a college degree 3. The accelerating presence of AI in white-collar, entry-level roles But we must also consider another critical factor: the multigenerational makeup of the workforce itself. We are witnessing a historic overlap of four generations in the labor market—and it’s creating a kind of economic gridlock: 1. Boomers are staying in the workforce longer, holding leadership and institutional roles well past traditional retirement age. 2. Gen X is stuck in a stalled middle tier—often overlooked and overextended, with few clear paths to advancement. 3. Millennials are managing compounding economic fatigue: student debt, housing costs, caregiving, and stagnating wages. 4. Gen Z, arriving with credentials and creativity, is entering a job market where traditional pathways are eroding—and where AI is increasingly taking on the very tasks that once built careers. This isn’t just a dip in the job market—it’s a breaking point, where four generations collide and AI begins rewriting the rules of who gets hired, how, and whether human labor is even required at all. And it even begs a deeper question: Are we still designing education, workforce policy, and economic systems for a version of the economy that no longer exists? Or will we finally acknowledge that the next era of labor will be shaped by entrepreneurs, digital builders, and AI-augmented talent? Check out the article and weigh in: theatlantic.com/...