Aibu for being increasingly worried about the job market?

Hence “calculated risk taking”. You do need to have some appetite for risk to grow a business. But obviously, you don’t risk anything you can’t afford to lose.

But most entrepreneurs I know have a positive outlook and and a similar attitude to calculated risk taking - this is mindset. Otherwise a degree of fatalism creeps into things and it becomes an excuse not to do something.

Most entrepreneurs that I know have had security systems in place so that if they do fail they are not exactly going to find themselves thrown out on the streets with not even a blanket, whether it’s money or property or family or good friends.

First law of ‘calculated’ risk is not to risk anything essential. You only risk what you can afford to lose. And in our times of inequality that is one hell of a luxury.

Thank god we are not arguing about potatoes....

Mindset is something we have complete control over. We can change our mindset. We can’t change our fundamental personality. Introverts can’t become extroverts. But someone with a negative mindset can make a conscious decision to reframe their way of thinking to view things in a positive light. I agree there is a correlation but this is the key difference.
My contention is that entrepreneurs are representative of most personality types. But most entrepreneurs I know have a positive outlook and and a similar attitude to calculated risk taking - this is mindset. Otherwise a degree of fatalism creeps into things and it becomes an excuse not to do something.

Labour have really done a number on the job market.

Not really, just a way to categorize people according to certain attributes.

I’ve for the first time heard in my industry that the flight towards AI is slowing: it’s not bringing great results and in some cases can bring catastrophic results - but then I’m in Pharma . Having said that, redundancies have already happened - but I think we’re entering a re-calibration.

Totally different things.

You say mindset, I say personality.

It's the same thing.

I disagree with this. All personality types can be entrepreneurial. It’s just that the ones we see on television and social media tend to be extrovert and self-promoting so I can see why entrepreneurship is associated with that type. It’s more about mindset. In certain circumstances and societies without the safety net of welfare or support, many people start businesses. The developing world is full of brilliant entrepreneurs and full of micro businesses. We’re lucky to have support here. But anyone with a good idea and the drive to develop it can make it work.

You are right about all of the above. I really don’t think anyone can go wrong with a degree in maths, physics or other stem subjects but I would alwsys advise anyone to do a degree in the subject they are passionate about. It’s a long slog. You are much more likely to thrive and do well when you are engaged with the subject. So much of what is needed for a career or a business will be learned outside the classroom. Good luck to your DC. It’s a scary but exciting world. Our kids thrive when they have parents who love them unconditionally and encourage them to fulfil their potential and then let them get on with it.

Thanks it’s more for dc who is looking at maths, CS or engineering at uni and reading your last line made me think hmm which would survive and thrive in that best.

On AI generally and business creation you make good points and if any party can incentivise new start ups they should. A lot of what is listed below is either democratised - eg marketing on SM or made easier eg using accounting apps.

Unfortunately we’re in a voting cycle that seems to hammer SMEs and be the opposite of what is needed with AI incoming. Hopefully it’ll change.

Thank you. Yes, that’s how I established my business, by working it out as I went along. I employ a team of seven now. I generate hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax that would otherwise not exist if I hadn’t experimented with a side hustle.
I’m not sure you actually need a degree to work in the AI field. It is so new that hands on experience is best. I’m in Scotland so we have organisations such as Codebase etc here but I’d start by looking at the free courses available online from reputable universities such as MIT in the states which has put most of its courses online for free.
Reputable organisations also have YouTube tutorials. Follow the leading members of the AI community on social media and see what they recommend. Check out your local businesses hubs. Or just ask ChatGPT to devise and recommend a schedule of instruction.

I agree with some of that pp in that the tax system and overall policy is working against business set up which is bad, but I also agree with you a few of the things listed are not ready and waiting for people who set something up.

They have to mess through and find it all as they go.

I like your last line for its pacing and writing, I was wondering if you had views on what the best degree is these days, maths? Or other

I absolutely agree and I am hugely sympathetic to anyone facing redundancy. I’ve been there myself. I just wanted to add a different perspective to the debate. Nobody is born with a product, a client base and business skills. Entrepreneurs develop these, often after honing them in their careers and occupations.
The sad truth is the nobody owes anyone a job. We all have collective responsibility for growing a healthy economy and that takes people taking calculated risks and starting businesses. Obviously, it’s not for everyone but there are many brilliant and motivated people on Mumsnet who have the skills and the drive and who might not have considered it. It’s at least worth exploring if you are redundant and unable to find a new job. There is quite a bit of free advice and support out there. Many businesses can be started as a side hustle alongside a job and therefore less risky while getting established. Technology has never been so available and barriers to entry have never been so low.
We are entering a period of huge disruption but also huge opportunities. For some establishing a business will be worth considering.
I would also advise people who are worried about their own jobs or the children’s jobs to embrace and learn everything they can about AI. It’s here to stay and changing v rapidly.
A friend who was travelling in Singapore recently saw a group of children working on computers on a Saturday morning. He asked what they were doing and was told “It’s Saturday morning AI school”. They were learning how to implement AI.
Nothing like that is happening here and the job market is increasingly global. We need to wake up to this reality.
AI won’t take your job. Someone who knows how to implement AI will take your job.

And someone needs to ask where will tax come from when that happens.

I’m a small business owner. I had planned to hire two people this year but ni hikes make it impossible.

I think entrepreneurs do need all that but underlying it, it takes a certain type of personality that you either have or dont' have. To work out all of the above, an appetite for risk but not too much risk, and the sheer joy of playing the bloody game!

Do you work in AI/ML? Of course there are accuracy problems! It starts with the data - who has checked for errors and bias? An AI trained on poor data will give poor results. Then, what has the AI beeen tasked to do? Is it clear? Who has checked for potential risks? For instance, in recent tests AI have been tasked to sell as many x as possible by any means neccessary, and have been found to employ manipulative and fradulent activitynto achieve those goals. Thay's why if you work in the industry you will constantly hear 'human in the loop', humans are needed to keep models on track. The trouble is, you only need a fraction of the curreny workforce to do that. And what we haven't accounted for is that a free market economy relies on people having some disposable income. Who will buy things, when no one has jobs?

Yes we need more entrepreneurs but I don't think that the mindset that tells people who are at risk of being made redundant that they could 'just' become one is quite fair. To build a business, you need to offer a service and/or a product. For that, you need:

1. skills that are in demand (tricky if you're being made redundant because AI can replace what you do)
2. a client base that you can tap into (tricky if you've not been client-facing, market research is a skill unto itself and relationships don't get built in a day)
3. as for a product- you might have a great idea but developing a product from scratch requires funding and investors (again, not a skill many people have and it's easy to sink your savings into a new endeavour - that is, if you have savings to begin with)
4. it also requires you to build an infrastructure from scratch: as an employee, you don't need to worry about accounting (unless you're an accountant), business insurance, marketing etc. As a new business, everything is on you alone and the set up costs quickly start adding up, even if you don't want anything fancy to begin with. I also think that our tax system is ridiculous as there is next to zero incentive or support right now to start a business. So no, I don't think it's as simple as saying everyone should be entrepreneurs.

It’s a perfect storm of AI improving productivity in small businesses, NICs, rates & minimum wage rises increasing employers costs and a naive belief by government that the new workers rights legislation will improve rights for workers. It won’t. It will mean contracts and job roles being cut now before the six month rule comes in.
This is not the fault of AI which is fantastic technology and has great potential for improving lives. Technology is neutral. It’s just a tool. It’s how it is used that matters. This is a political decision.
AI is making the barriers to entry for starting a business much lower. Government should be putting real resources into smart startups. If you are concerned about the long term employment situation, have you considered setting up a business and helping to grow the economy? It’s easier than you think. We need more electricians. We also need more entrepreneurs.

Right you are guvnor!

Just work harder!!

This is not ‘managed decline’. There’s nothing managed about it. Management would require that people be given some kind of alternative way of living. Every single avenue is instead being shut down and the elites make things harder by allowing buy to let, then air b’n’b in huge numbers, watching jobs be cut in tens of thousands in diverse sectors year on year, the possibility of retraining eradicated. Media was first to go so it’s difficult to pull information together even for those trained in it, and sectors don’t communicate. The same thing has been happening across the public sector and has been for 25 years: lower levels made to take on extra responsibility as higher levels are sacked, now those lower levels are the low-paid highest and being sacked now as minimum wage staff are made again to take on new skills. We know about generational inequality.

Yet all we get is gaslighting and propaganda. ‘Change positivity’ and ‘change management’ was the watchword of the Blair years, now it’s ‘maximise capacity in teams’ via AI and still we get cuts, cuts, cuts while the number of billionaires and their wealth absolutely balloons and inheritance is NOT taking over, it has taken over. Past tense.

There have never been any answers and we are sleepwalking with tech into every dystopian world ever imagined.

Jobs are going in the NHS too. Despite the huge demand for health services and the already-low per capita figures for health staff per capita.

I can think of many reasons why moving to work is not an option and I speak as someone without much family tie who has moved several times. It’s hard, moving to a new area with no ties, in both social terms and knowing where to go.

Money is a big one. People with money, born into it from mummy and daddy, have never appreciated that many people in Britain are impoverished and today have less than ever. Food poverty is real, I used to be dressed in hand me downs and used to struggle with clothing for work, many are homeless. But of course we don’t matter. Transport costs, also more expensive and more limited than ever.

Housing. Are you on the moon that you don’t know Britains housing market is broken? I had to move region to have any hope of owning to give my kids a bit of solid background, somewhere to stand. I lost my career as a result. Nothing has improved, it’s getting worse.
Most jobs do not pay the cost of housing, either buying or renting.

The pp who talked about moving mentioned youngsters moving to Germany. Ha ha. That was only ever possible for the middle classes anyway - I could not afford a passport until I was 30-odd- and now not even for them (also much easier for southerners than northerners). There was a little issue called Brexit. We have no rights in Europe. Fewer youngsters are studying languages because there are no jobs in it, they’ve been taken by computers (Google translate) for the last 20 years or so.

Our government does not care about people: we can be replaced from around the world. This is already happening.