Page 4 | Aibu for being increasingly worried about the job market?

gymboe · 2025-12-08T14:22:00+00:00

another threat of redundancy here. Business not going well and to be honest we are full steam ahead with AI. a quick search in my large town in south of England: - 5 x nhs jobs (4 of which I am not qualified for and one is really terrible pay as just three days per week) - school jobs: just three and very low pay - our high street is mostly made of charity shops and vape stores. Retail doesn’t offer what I want. - a big employer now hardly owns any office space. There are just a few jobs. I’m not qualified. I do have a degree but found myself in a specialised account/client mgmt type role. Pays around £50k. 10 years ago there were loads of these type of jobs, decent salary even if you had to start low, good career progression, hundreds of them and tonnes of temp agencies. And the nhs had loads of admin jobs. Not to mention school jobs being plentiful. where the hell have they all gone? this is a huge issue. Massive. I’m really worried.

Velvetrevolution · 08/12/2025 17:01

My son has good degree and MSc in Computer Science and has been looking for job for over a year and getting nowhere. Trying to get him to look for part-time job eg supermarket or bar work till he gets computing job, seem to be even less of these jobs. He has Asperger’s, but it’s a shame after he did well at uni.

SeriouslyWhataMess · 08/12/2025 17:02

My DH and I have both been made redundant from £50k+ roles within the last year, from an industry that has been destroyed by ai. We are really struggling to find anything that isn’t minimum wage retail. It’s really scary. In the blink of an eye our entire careers have disappeared. We are in our forties and too old to completely retrain in another area. I feel so hopeless atm, I miss my career.

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:03

StrictlyComeRambling · 08/12/2025 16:57

Sadly jobs in AI are very exposed to AI. Software engineering is one of the first affected careers and that’s really the core skill for anyone working to develop this technology. Seeing the same crash in entry level roles there. “New grad” ML engineer now often requires highly relevant PhD (which was hard to foresee since PhD takes 4-6 years!) plus publications plus 2-3 years industry experience training large models (very hard to get this experience outside of the big labs due to the cost). It’s ridiculous. To get all that experience you’d have to be about 30 and have had everything go right in order to get a so called entry level job. And those positions are getting hundreds of applicants each. At the same time there’s a crazy rush on those with 10+ years relevant industry experience driving those salaries into the millions.

The AI labs don’t want to hire juniors because they’re betting on AGI before the investment in newer hires would pay off.

At least that’s one explanation. I suspect it’s more complicated than that. For highly skilled jobs where it takes time for a new grad to become productive and in a culture / economy where it’s normal to move jobs every couple of years it’s hard to justify being the company that does the training. They’re finding it doesn’t pay off to hire new grads compared to poaching from other companies. But everyone is making that decision at once.

I suspect there’s a lot of off shoring happening but companies prefer to blame AI because it sounds more exciting.

In the UK especially I think there’s a huge brexit effect and long term political chaos hasn’t helped us. In the US there’s the orange man. And US tariff uncertainty is hitting worldwide.

I am concerned about how AI will affect knowledge based rather than manufacturing based economies. The uk is very exposed in that way. We made money not by actually manufacturing a lot of stuff but by excellence in eg bio tech, financial services, higher education maybe. Giving up manufacturing was a terrible long term choice.

In the end I actually think the biggest problem is a massive ongoing failure of governments in allowing private wealthy individuals to own more and more of everything. Result is money locked up and the real economy grinds to a halt.

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This is so interesting thank you!

another concern I have is, if AI is owned by American/ Chinese companies then these jobs are all effectively being offshored and any remaining British industry is effectively American/ Chinese anyway isn’t it? Everything is returned there rather here. The data, the software ownership etc etc.

StrictlyComeRambling · 08/12/2025 17:03

MsFogi · 08/12/2025 16:59

I am convinced we will return to the upstairs/downstairs/little matchstick girl times - a small group of very wealthy people who own the resources and means of production and a real ‘working class’ providing services for them and their lavish lifestyles (think domestic staff) and doing horrific grunt/labour intensive jobs. The middle class as we know it will disappear and we will go back to a huge divide between the haves and have nots and the vast majority will be the have nots.

This is my prediction too, sadly. The relative equality we experienced for the last century is unusual by historical standards.

Thatsalineallright · 08/12/2025 17:05

banananas1999 · 08/12/2025 16:54

School jobs will go next,teachers,teaching assistants etc will be replaced by AI- already happening in some EU countries and theres a bews clip that Russia will be starting it too,especially as they have a lot of remote areas and children have to commute long distances

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I'm a teacher and think you might well be right, schools will be looking to ai. However, I do think this will mean standards will plummet even more.

So much of teaching is finding ways to motivate students. If students like their teachers they're much more receptive to information. This is hardwired into the human brain: we've evolved to learn from other humans.

AI simply isn't the same. Sure, some kids will knuckle down and just get on with it but there will be a big increase in kids simply switching off and not learning anything.

My bet is that the fancy private schools (the type silicone valley tech people send their kids to) will continue hiring humans so that they get the best education. All the 'common people' will have to put up with rubbish AI schools.

EasternStandard · 08/12/2025 17:08

SeriouslyWhataMess · 08/12/2025 17:02

My DH and I have both been made redundant from £50k+ roles within the last year, from an industry that has been destroyed by ai. We are really struggling to find anything that isn’t minimum wage retail. It’s really scary. In the blink of an eye our entire careers have disappeared. We are in our forties and too old to completely retrain in another area. I feel so hopeless atm, I miss my career.

What did you do as a career @SeriouslyWhataMess?

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:08

Thatsalineallright · 08/12/2025 17:05

I'm a teacher and think you might well be right, schools will be looking to ai. However, I do think this will mean standards will plummet even more.

So much of teaching is finding ways to motivate students. If students like their teachers they're much more receptive to information. This is hardwired into the human brain: we've evolved to learn from other humans.

AI simply isn't the same. Sure, some kids will knuckle down and just get on with it but there will be a big increase in kids simply switching off and not learning anything.

My bet is that the fancy private schools (the type silicone valley tech people send their kids to) will continue hiring humans so that they get the best education. All the 'common people' will have to put up with rubbish AI schools.

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I reckon this has to be 20 years away at least though right?

unless they are given the technology for free, how would schools invest millions (maybe even billions?) into the set up?

what about practical points, like how would you get out of the teachers pension scheme? Current teachers pay retired teachers. That would cost billions to exit.

Happyjoe · 08/12/2025 17:10

My other half was saying this just yesterday, there will be no jobs in the not so distant future. And as a country that relies on consumerism for it's funding, around 60% how is it going to afford to pay people to be out of work and elderly care/pensions? Sure, some retraining, but there just won't be enough work for us all?

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:10

Can someone who has been made redundant by AI expand on how it happened?

like the paralegal example - clearly we haven’t stopped the work load and replaced it by feeding questions into ChatGPT. What was the process of implementing the technology, and how long does it take? How does AI do the job?

DallasMajor · 08/12/2025 17:10

what about practical points, like how would you get out of the teachers pension scheme? Current teachers pay retired teachers

This is a massive problem everywhere. Pensions will be worthless if there are not enough people working to contribute.

Feeling very disheartened by all of this.

RainbowBagels · 08/12/2025 17:12

Thatsalineallright · 08/12/2025 17:05

I'm a teacher and think you might well be right, schools will be looking to ai. However, I do think this will mean standards will plummet even more.

So much of teaching is finding ways to motivate students. If students like their teachers they're much more receptive to information. This is hardwired into the human brain: we've evolved to learn from other humans.

AI simply isn't the same. Sure, some kids will knuckle down and just get on with it but there will be a big increase in kids simply switching off and not learning anything.

My bet is that the fancy private schools (the type silicone valley tech people send their kids to) will continue hiring humans so that they get the best education. All the 'common people' will have to put up with rubbish AI schools.

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I agree. Its all very well saying ' lets teach hundreds of kids remotely with one teacher, but I do some adult teaching hybrid- so some classroom and some online. There is a marked difference in engagement with face to face and online. What you will get is children who are engaged and want to learn, have the space and supportive parents/carers engaging in a way that is more difficult anyway than if you were face to face and the rest just stuck in front of a screen not engaging and not achieving anything. I suppose they will be forced into doing low paid work eventually when there's no money to pay them benefits. Its pretty bleak.

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:13

DallasMajor · 08/12/2025 17:10

what about practical points, like how would you get out of the teachers pension scheme? Current teachers pay retired teachers

This is a massive problem everywhere. Pensions will be worthless if there are not enough people working to contribute.

Feeling very disheartened by all of this.

But potentially such a big problem that you are forced to continue with the status quo?

after all, who can exit their pension schemes within a few years? No one. Probably Elon musk couldn’t do it.

reduced contributions by reducing the size of the workforce yes- we’ve been doing that since computer technology was introduced- that expense can trickle down over years, it will be expensive, but you’re saving labour at the same time. But that is mild job loss, not this complete decimation people predict.

Simply closing it (ie teachers no longer exist- impossible. You’d have to pay billions cash upfront.

SeriouslyWhataMess · 08/12/2025 17:14

EasternStandard · 08/12/2025 17:08

What did you do as a career @SeriouslyWhataMess?

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We were both game developers (different studios). There have been thousands and thousands of redundancies in our industry in the last 12 months.

Happyjoe · 08/12/2025 17:14

SeriouslyWhataMess · 08/12/2025 17:02

My DH and I have both been made redundant from £50k+ roles within the last year, from an industry that has been destroyed by ai. We are really struggling to find anything that isn’t minimum wage retail. It’s really scary. In the blink of an eye our entire careers have disappeared. We are in our forties and too old to completely retrain in another area. I feel so hopeless atm, I miss my career.

Am so very sorry, it's scarily quick too how it's going. My OH was just saying in his work place what used to be done by programmers is now done by AI. Thankfully for us, retirement is only a few years away, but this is scary. I really do hope things get much better for you both soon.

I do remember in the early 90's, both of my brothers worked in some sort of software businesses (different companies though), then computers really burst onto the scene, were much better and they both lost their job, and their flat they'd bought together. They ended up in vastly different careers after.

Thatsalineallright · 08/12/2025 17:15

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:08

I reckon this has to be 20 years away at least though right?

unless they are given the technology for free, how would schools invest millions (maybe even billions?) into the set up?

what about practical points, like how would you get out of the teachers pension scheme? Current teachers pay retired teachers. That would cost billions to exit.

Show quote history

I think AI will first be offered at very low prices. Then once it's been integrated into systems and the human knowledge is mostly gone, the tech companies will raise the prices sky high.

So it'll be cheap to implement but very expensive to keep running but by then it'll be too late to reverse.

Baninarama · 08/12/2025 17:16

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 17:10

Can someone who has been made redundant by AI expand on how it happened?

like the paralegal example - clearly we haven’t stopped the work load and replaced it by feeding questions into ChatGPT. What was the process of implementing the technology, and how long does it take? How does AI do the job?

I'm interested in this also. I work in marketing for IT. Someone still needs to be able to feed in what I want, in terms of creative output. And if, eg, I tell Canva's AI I want a picture of a dog holding a stick it is apt to churn out a right load of irrelevant dross. I wouldn't trust it with a big campaign image, no way! I think AI might be getting the blame for something else, frankly, as I wouldn't trust AI to do anything other than perform basic summaries right now.

LexiFeatherston · 08/12/2025 17:18

I'm a marketer and was made redundant when they replaced most of the team with AI. The job market is dire with the only open roles are those training AI to help it replace more of us.
I am worried I may not find another job in this field and I think I am too old to retrain in any field that is not at risk.

Comedycook · 08/12/2025 17:18

My ds 17 and all his friends are desperate for work but there's very little... only one of his friends has a job. If supermarkets and fast food outlets stopped using self checkout to order and pay, can you imagine how many jobs that would create? When I was a teen, so many of us would just be able to walk into a supermarket and get a part time job on the tills. Things will get much much worse...it's terrifying

RainbowBagels · 08/12/2025 17:21

Comedycook · 08/12/2025 17:18

My ds 17 and all his friends are desperate for work but there's very little... only one of his friends has a job. If supermarkets and fast food outlets stopped using self checkout to order and pay, can you imagine how many jobs that would create? When I was a teen, so many of us would just be able to walk into a supermarket and get a part time job on the tills. Things will get much much worse...it's terrifying

Agree. My DS is the same age and he and his friends are having the same problem.. They have studies to do so can't spend endless hours on job applications for a few hours work in a supermarket, yet the jobs just aren't there.

1clavdivs · 08/12/2025 17:22

DP was made redundant this year and can't get a job. He's trying to start his own business up now to get round it. As I type this, he's been turned down for another job he went for. DD left sixth form this summer and can't get anything either. Both are applying to multiple jobs a day.

I'm worried about redundancies at my firm as it may well be me next. Goodness knows what we'll all do.

JoyfulOwl · 08/12/2025 17:23

Ironically I just asked chat gpt to include those on sickness benefits in the ratio of people seeking employment compared to number of vacancies.(currently 2.5 people unemployed for every 1 vacancy)
The answer was 7! 7 people out of work, for whatever reason, for every 1 vacancy.

It will be impossible for those on benefits to get a job, especially if people in work who have recently been made redundant can't find one.

Happyjoe · 08/12/2025 17:24

Comedycook · 08/12/2025 17:18

My ds 17 and all his friends are desperate for work but there's very little... only one of his friends has a job. If supermarkets and fast food outlets stopped using self checkout to order and pay, can you imagine how many jobs that would create? When I was a teen, so many of us would just be able to walk into a supermarket and get a part time job on the tills. Things will get much much worse...it's terrifying

It's not just that tho - people shopping online, companies on the high st have closed in their hundreds over the last 10 years and now with everything so expensive people can't afford to shop as freely. All these things are job losses, even less money to spend. It's catch 22. I feel very sorry for the teenagers who's traditional 1st job was retail and they can't even get a Saturday job. I was like you, could walk out of one job and straight into another when I was young.

kimonok · 08/12/2025 17:25

There are as many (if not more) redundancies at the moment because of the government cutbacks as there are because of AI.

I'm not saying AI is not a problem, it is, but don't let it mask the massive issue of cutbacks in the NHS, schools, local government etc. A lot of these posts simply are not being replaced.

Inlimboin50s · 08/12/2025 17:26

My ds finished a level 2 plumbing course in June and we searched for an apprenticeship all through last year. The only one that came up was in Birmingham, a good 50 miles away. Nothing in our county at all.
So he has upped his hours in the pub/restaurant he has been working at since 15 and now works full time,commuting on a little moped.
About four of his friends are not in education,work or training,though three are searching( driving their parents and with fustration). We live ten miles from a town so it's tricky when they can't drive and don't have many skills to offer.

Comedycook · 08/12/2025 17:27

Do you all remember walking into a McDonald's in the 1980s/1990s and rows and rows of staff taking your orders? Now it's screens and one or two people just bringing your food out to you

Eventually the governments will have to provide a universal basic income as there won't be enough jobs for the population... unfortunately before they sort that out, we are going to have a horrendous time.