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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Job market is awful

356 replies

Flowerpowerz · 03/08/2026 19:34

I work in pharma (general field) and the job market is horrendous. I’m seeing a huge trend towards AI which is not surprising. Perhaps more concerning is the massive uptick of offshore partners aka shipping work out to India because they are cheaper than people in the uk and USA. I have several friends in several related companies (technology, IT, coding) that have lost jobs due to this. They are being expected to share knowledge with their Indian colleagues before their redundancy kicks in.

I have honestly never known it so bad. My linked in is a sea of “open to work”

is it just me or has anyone else noticed these trends? It’s worse than ever

OP posts:
smallglassbottle · 04/08/2026 10:32

Auburngal · 04/08/2026 10:31

But how does stuff go on the shelves, reduce stock (yellow stickers), add new lines to shelves????

Overworked staff?

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 10:32

GingerBeverage · 04/08/2026 10:08

Haven't rtft but Modi has been touring the world for some time making trade deals with leaders. The deals always include accepting Indian workers, and with a 1.48 billion population, with about 1 billion working age, that is able to undercut virtually every other worker you can see the results.

To put 1 billion into context add all these populations:

United States: ~349,035,000
Japan: ~123,000,000
Germany: ~84,400,000
United Kingdom: ~69,100,000
France: ~64,800,000
Italy: ~58,900,000
South Korea: ~51,700,000
Spain: ~48,000,000
Canada: ~39,700,000
Australia: ~26,600,000
Taiwan: ~23,400,000
Netherlands: ~18,200,000
Belgium: ~11,700,000
Greece: ~10,300,000
Czech Republic (Czechia): ~10,900,000
Sweden: ~10,600,000
Portugal: ~10,400,000
Israel: ~9,300,000
Austria: ~9,100,000
Switzerland: ~8,900,000
Hong Kong SAR: ~7,500,000
Denmark: ~5,900,000
Finland: ~5,600,000
Slovakia: ~5,400,000
Norway: ~5,500,000
Ireland: ~5,300,000
New Zealand: ~5,300,000
Singapore: ~6,000,000
Lithuania: ~2,800,000
Slovenia: ~2,100,000
Latvia: ~1,800,000
Estonia: ~1,300,000
Cyprus: ~1,200,000
Luxembourg: ~670,000
Malta: ~530,000
Iceland: ~380,000
San Marino: ~33,000
Macao SAR: ~700,000

= approx 1.096 billion people.

Which would still leave 404 million Indians of non-working age.

Companies will always choose the cheapest workers.

Indians have a reputation for working hard

Maomee · 04/08/2026 10:33

Auburngal · 04/08/2026 10:31

But how does stuff go on the shelves, reduce stock (yellow stickers), add new lines to shelves????

People do it, for now. The number of workers in supermarkets overall has been massively reduced by automation already though. Anything to make more profit.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 10:33

smallglassbottle · 04/08/2026 10:32

Overworked staff?

Surely, that work can be automated?

Thepeopleversuswork · 04/08/2026 10:34

Ordonot · 04/08/2026 07:11

Yet try getting a trade like a plumber or an electrician, get a window fixed, get anyone to come out to your house and they are all too busy!

Yes but not everyone can be a plumber or an electrician?

It really irritates me that this is presented as the solution to all our problems.

a) not everyone can do it and
b) if everyone becomes a plumber or electrician there will be a glut of them too.

Some people are suited to knowledge based work. Instead of funnelling everyone into the trades we should be thinking about the kids who still want to work in a knowledge economy.

SwirlyGates · 04/08/2026 10:35

IDontHateRainbows · 04/08/2026 08:15

It'll be the new degree in 10 years, although lots of nepotism in trades.

Lots of sexism too. For a number of reasons trades don't tend to appeal to girls, whether it's tradition and image, or the sexism, lone working, strength (in some fields) and even reach if you're putting up scaffolding or carrying plasterboard. I'm going add that men tend to be the risk takers, so are more likely to be happy up on a roof or a long ladder. It would be good to get more girls going into trades, but at the moment that's not happening.

SwirlyGates · 04/08/2026 10:43

BlueFahrenheit · 04/08/2026 08:16

The job market is in a dreadful state. I expected artificial intelligence to cause serious disruption, and it has done precisely that.

I feel deeply for the younger generation, particularly those who genuinely want to work, contribute, and build a decent future.

I do not know what the solution is yet, and it's worrying.

We've had Brexit, closely followed by Covid and the associated WFH (resulting in companies getting set up so they can hire people living anywhere), followed by AI, along with government policies designed to tax everything that moves (or doesn't move), and legislation making it more risking to hire new workers... it's no surprise we're in a bloody mess.

ForWiseRoseCat · 04/08/2026 10:43

SwirlyGates · 04/08/2026 10:35

Lots of sexism too. For a number of reasons trades don't tend to appeal to girls, whether it's tradition and image, or the sexism, lone working, strength (in some fields) and even reach if you're putting up scaffolding or carrying plasterboard. I'm going add that men tend to be the risk takers, so are more likely to be happy up on a roof or a long ladder. It would be good to get more girls going into trades, but at the moment that's not happening.

Such as shame that's the case.

My heat pump engineer was a woman, she was bloody good at her job (possibly more so than the male one I had), she explained everything she was doing, showed me what she was doing. Even waited around so my Dad could have a nosey at what had been done.

The male one I had didn't bother to explain stuff to me, when I mentioned my radiators weren't all heating up he brushed it off as needing balancing and ignored the fact I could hear clicking (and had bled and balanced already), turns out I was right and a switch needed replacing (and oh look all radiators are now heating up).

ThePeppyOpalScroller · 04/08/2026 10:43

DeftGoldHedgehog · 04/08/2026 06:30

The companies will literally own the government.

Big companies, plutocrats, banks and the financial markets really run the world, not governments.

If that were true, if banks and financial markets ran the world, Brexit wouldn't have happened. The Iran war wouldn't have happened . . .

Banks and traders profit from political decisions, they don't make those decisions. In a world of UBI, the government would be managed by a handful of tech companies. That government would never do anything to piss off of disrupt the business interests of those tech giants. So if Google said it wanted a barcode printed on everyone's forehead, the government would make it law because they have no choice.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 10:52

The public will never accept UBI.

Netcurtainnelly · 04/08/2026 10:57

Do you think the job market is awful and the job application process?

Ordonot · 04/08/2026 10:58

Thepeopleversuswork · 04/08/2026 10:34

Yes but not everyone can be a plumber or an electrician?

It really irritates me that this is presented as the solution to all our problems.

a) not everyone can do it and
b) if everyone becomes a plumber or electrician there will be a glut of them too.

Some people are suited to knowledge based work. Instead of funnelling everyone into the trades we should be thinking about the kids who still want to work in a knowledge economy.

Are you on a trade or you OH? We don’t have enough people in skilled trades - there is a skills shortage - it’s a solution to that if nothing else.

ThePeppyOpalScroller · 04/08/2026 10:59

Flowerpowerz · 04/08/2026 09:47

But when we are all unemployed and our teens can’t get a job at all and are still at home after uni, we won’t be spending in Waitrose or getting an electrician to do jobs or quite honestly buying anything… because we won’t have any money! No holidays, no treats, no spa days, no nails or brows being done, no new phones, no new clothes…

that will then have a knock on to industries that think “well robots and AI can’t cut hair/do nails” etc

This is the senario that Elon has no answer for. When you decouple labour from money, society collapses. Even in a UBI utopia, some jobs still need to be done. Why would anyone work any job whan they are being given everything they need or want for free? That's the problem with UBI, if you tell people it's a basic subsistence payment, then it's just universal credit. And poor, unemployed people aren't known to suddenly become philosophers or artists. We all know what longterm unemployment does to people's mental health.

If you set UBI at a high level, a luxury lifestyle, then nobody will work. And humans are not good at just sitting around. If I can have a new car, a new house, new clothes and electronics, all for almost nothing, how do you convince someone to work in waste management, to oversee the A.I and the robots. What more would you have to pay them? A UBI economy is just a contradiction and historically has very few successful precedents.

Not to mention the developing nations. A UBI economy would need mass surveillance to ensure compliance. Developing countries would become a "human economy utiopia". We would be living inside a polished, communist panopticon. The "free" nations like Africa and South America would look on us as we looked at the East Germans 50 years ago. Do we really want that kind of life?

Seawitchandgarden · 04/08/2026 10:59

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 10:52

The public will never accept UBI.

Why on earth not?

If jobs continue to disappear because of Ai what do you expect people to do? starve and become homeless?

ThePeppyOpalScroller · 04/08/2026 11:01

Ordonot · 04/08/2026 10:58

Are you on a trade or you OH? We don’t have enough people in skilled trades - there is a skills shortage - it’s a solution to that if nothing else.

It isn't a solution. Trades need people with jobs to pay them. If we train everyone to be a plumber, but allow mass unemployment to spread in "normal" jobs. Then the plumbers go broke alongside everyone else.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:03

Seawitchandgarden · 04/08/2026 10:59

Why on earth not?

If jobs continue to disappear because of Ai what do you expect people to do? starve and become homeless?

Would pensioners get UBI on top of their pensions?

Baileyss · 04/08/2026 11:28

Working and contributing is good for people. Stop this UBI nonsense.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:30

World War 3 is just around the corner, your DC will be needed for that.

StandingDeskDisco · 04/08/2026 11:38

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:03

Would pensioners get UBI on top of their pensions?

The only way to introduce UBI is to set it at subsistence level: the same rate as a single person Universal Credit payment is currently.
That way, it replaces UC, basic state pension, and most benefits. It also replaces some or all of the income tax personal allowance. So people already in work would see no change except their payslip would show UBI offset by tax, with net pay the same.
So for most people, their income would not change, whether it is from current benefits, pensions, or working.
There would be massive savings in benefits staff, with removal of all those staff required to check up on making sure people are looking for work. The requirement to look for work would be removed. For lower levels of sickness or disability, the requirement for medical evidence would be removed, so more staff savings.
The extra cost of the scheme would be those who currently have no income, e.g. SAHP being supported by a partner, who would get UBI.

Housing benefit and higher rate disability benefits would have to remain in place. There may also be a need to keep UC payments for children.

Most people will not be happy to live on a pittance of UBI, so will still want to go out to work. But if the jobs are not there, you would have to survive on UBI just as people now have to survive on UC.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:40

StandingDeskDisco · 04/08/2026 11:38

The only way to introduce UBI is to set it at subsistence level: the same rate as a single person Universal Credit payment is currently.
That way, it replaces UC, basic state pension, and most benefits. It also replaces some or all of the income tax personal allowance. So people already in work would see no change except their payslip would show UBI offset by tax, with net pay the same.
So for most people, their income would not change, whether it is from current benefits, pensions, or working.
There would be massive savings in benefits staff, with removal of all those staff required to check up on making sure people are looking for work. The requirement to look for work would be removed. For lower levels of sickness or disability, the requirement for medical evidence would be removed, so more staff savings.
The extra cost of the scheme would be those who currently have no income, e.g. SAHP being supported by a partner, who would get UBI.

Housing benefit and higher rate disability benefits would have to remain in place. There may also be a need to keep UC payments for children.

Most people will not be happy to live on a pittance of UBI, so will still want to go out to work. But if the jobs are not there, you would have to survive on UBI just as people now have to survive on UC.

It's never going to happen, the old will never agree to the young getting the same as them for doing nothing, when they have worked for 35 years plus.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:42

Also, the old deserve better than subsistence. I would favour introducing compulsory work programs for those on benefits. So UBW - Universal Basic Work.

NellieJean · 04/08/2026 11:42

The old “contract” between employers and employees is completely broken. Staff are just Human Resources to be dispensed with whenever necessary. On the other hand you will see threads in here of people horrified at being asked to stay after 5.00 to finish something important, come into the office or attend a staff conference.
Many young people are not “work ready”, have inflated ideas about their ability, and are ill equipped to listen to feedback. The ones who are stand out and are destined to be keepers and promoted.
Recruitment is now an AI war game with employers getting 100’s of applications from people totally unsuitable for the job and their response is to dismiss the majority, including good applicants, just to make the task manageable.
Complaints and grievances can run to 50+ pages generated by AI and take up an inordinate amount of management time.Employers respond by being very risk averse about who they employ and take on new staff as a last resort.
Its an utter mess and I’ve no idea what the answer is.

SadiraOfTyr · 04/08/2026 11:46

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:03

Would pensioners get UBI on top of their pensions?

There wouldn't be any state pensions. The point of a UBI is that everyone gets it and it does away with all other benefits (UC, child benefit, state pensions). It also does away with all tax allowances. The only exception might be a disability benefit for those who are unable to work but who's disability incurs a significant cost.

So, everyone over the age of 18 gets e.g. £15k per year and anything you earn over that you are taxed on at a flat rate.

It hugely simplifies both the benefits and tax systems, but there are losers as well as winners. And some people - e.g. those on UC with multiple children, would lose out very badly. The biggest winners would be driven individuals who work in well-paid fields who would benefit from a flat rate tax.

And of course it currently would be impossible to fund.

Digerydont · 04/08/2026 11:47

SadiraOfTyr · 04/08/2026 11:46

There wouldn't be any state pensions. The point of a UBI is that everyone gets it and it does away with all other benefits (UC, child benefit, state pensions). It also does away with all tax allowances. The only exception might be a disability benefit for those who are unable to work but who's disability incurs a significant cost.

So, everyone over the age of 18 gets e.g. £15k per year and anything you earn over that you are taxed on at a flat rate.

It hugely simplifies both the benefits and tax systems, but there are losers as well as winners. And some people - e.g. those on UC with multiple children, would lose out very badly. The biggest winners would be driven individuals who work in well-paid fields who would benefit from a flat rate tax.

And of course it currently would be impossible to fund.

Since everyone gets 15k, its true value will be 5k. Pensioners will not vote for everyone getting 15k for doing nothing.

thesugarbumfairy · 04/08/2026 11:56

I work for a French company who has in the last year or so taken over a couple of firms that are India based. My new colleagues are lovely, but I can't shake the feeling that they are being trained up (by me!) to take over our jobs, at which point we will be made redundant.
I'm not even paid particularly highly for my role, but I daren't leave. I'm a middle aged woman in IT - can't risk it.
At least if they make me redundant I will get a pay-out - which no doubt will also be the bare minimum.