Gen Z’s jobs problem: Stories you may have missed

New analysis, including from Federal Reserve researchers, is not putting Gen Z in a good light.

You may have heard of college graduates across the U.S. booing any commencement speaker who dares to reference “artificial intelligence” in their address. And, at first glance, that’s understandable.

These young adults have spent the last few years hearing about how AI will render their aspirations useless. They’ve been told repeatedly how difficult it is to get an entry-level job, with degree-holding 22–27 year-olds suffering from a 5.6% unemployment rate.

However – and I hate saying this as the father of more than one member of Gen Z – the data seems to indicate that (some of) their attitudes are what’s actually depriving them of employment.

For one thing, the general U.S. unemployment rate is just 4.2%. College graduates overall (i.e., of any age) hold an even better percentage at 3.1%.

As this week’s jobs report showed, companies are indeed hiring, with private-sector employers adding 122,000 jobs in May. And layoffs weren’t much of a problem either.

Moreover, as I covered last week, big AI CEOs are now admitting their initial doomsday projections were wrong. Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok even declared recently that “there is zero evidence of job losses because of AI.”

Now consider Resume Genius’ survey results last January, which showed that a whopping 45% of hiring managers pegged Gen Z as “the most challenging generation to work with.”

A Forbes report out around the same time found that bosses often described Gen Z as unprofessional and disorganized, with bad communication skills. And we’ve all heard how highly they value their work-life balances – especially when it comes to demanding remote setups or hybrid arrangements.

Since employers often want their newest, entry-level employees in the office for training and culture-absorption purposes… they’re finding hires who will actually comply with those wishes. Which very often, are not Gen Z.

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) wants to overhaul just about everything about itself, including its fast-food image. At least it’s going to try.

For the past decade, it’s been trying to make its restaurants more adult-oriented, removing much of its cheerful color schemes and mascots. But since critics say it went overboard, Chief Restaurant Experience Officer Jill McDonald – who just came onboard last year – says management will be bringing “some of the playfulness” back.

Potential ideas include:

On the menu side of the equation, you might soon see hand-breaded chicken options to compete against growing chains like Raising Cane’s… colorful iced drinks to compete with Dutch Bros. (BROS) and the like… and non-dairy milk options to compete with just about everyone.

Then there’s staffing, where Global Chief People Officer Tiffanie Boyd has her people reviewing company training material. She also wants to make sure workers at all levels get better ideas of how food is supposed to look and taste so they’ll make it and serve it more attractively.

Really, listening to management, it looks like McDonald’s plans to overhaul just about every aspect of the business. So we’ll see how the Happy Meal cookie crumbles from here…

It wasn’t even a year ago that Samsung Electronics moved its U.S. headquarters from Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, to the nearby Englewood. But now it’s quitting the state altogether.

The South Korean tech giant, it appears, is headed to Texas.

Management (and HR) was extremely diplomatic in announcing this decision, writing that:

If I had to translate that, it’d be like this: Samsung is far from pleased with recent developments in the blue-state environment it’s currently operating in. Recent changes and potential changes include:

I’ve been arguing for quite a while now that such big-government moves are damaging many liberal-led cities and states. The more that legislators try to dictate what a business can do, the more those businesses go looking for greener economic pastures.

They then take their employees with them. Their employees take their families. And their families take all their needs, from housing to schooling to food and recreation.

That’s why the business-friendly Sunbelt is booming… and places like New Jersey (sorry, guys) are losing out.

Happy SWAN investing!

Brad Thomas
Editor, The Wide Moat Daily

Here’s an abbreviation that might be new for you: HALO.

In the investing world, it now stands for businesses with “Heavy Assets” and “Low Obsolescence.”

Attributed to Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown, HALO investments are assets that AI just can’t disrupt, from major oil companies to major food companies to major retailers.

Ritholtz has his list, of course. And Wide Moat Research has ours… including some with compelling valuations I cover in this week’s Wide Moat Show.

Catch the full episode right here.