Employment Landscape
Fears on AI drive Gen Z to pivot to blue-collar work, study finds
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Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z workers are skeptical that a college degree will secure them a job against the rise of AI.
With AI quickly taking over more white-collar work, nearly two-thirds of Gen Z are casting doubt on whether a college degree will guarantee job security. Instead, it is blue-collar jobs Gen Z workers are flocking to, a recent study from career website Zety has revealed.
Zety’s Gen Z Reroute Report, which surveyed 1,000 Gen Z professionals across the US in June 2025, disclosed that 65% of Gen Z say a college degree won’t shield them from job losses due to AI. Another 72% believe that AI will reduce entry-level corporate job opportunities in the next five years, while 17% believe these roles will be eliminated overnight.
“Gen Z isn’t just aware of AI’s impact; they’re internalising it,” said Jasmine Escalera, a career expert with Zety. “For many, long-term career planning now feels like a gamble, not a guarantee.”
This widespread concern over AI’s increasing role in the workplace, which Zety coined as ‘AIxiety’, has led to 43% of young professionals switching careers. More than half of Gen Z workers surveyed (53%) also said they’re seriously considering a blue-collar or skilled trade career, followed by people-focused professions like healthcare and education (47%), creative careers (31%), and tech and AI-related roles (30%).
“Rather than waiting for the job market to shift beneath them, many Gen Zers are taking preemptive action,” Escalante said.
Zety’s findings align with similar reports on Gen Z and AI. In May, Resume Builder found that 42% of Gen Z respondents were currently working or actively pursuing a blue-collar job, with more than a third having a college degree.
Stacie Haller, the chief career advisor for Resume Builder, said more Gen Z college graduates are applying for trade jobs because they involve manual tasks that are difficult to automate. “Additionally, many grads find their degrees don’t lead to careers in their field, prompting them to explore more practical, in-demand alternatives,” she said.
Anxiety due to AI is also not an exclusive Gen Z career trend. Tech company Writer published a report in March this year, saying that 42% of executives believe AI adoption measures are tearing their companies apart. Fears of AI replacing jobs have also led to 41% of millennial and Gen Z employees admitting to sabotaging their company’s AI strategy.
CEOs have also begun to sound the alarm over AI’s disruption of the global labour market. Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of the AI startup Anthropic, made headlines in May when he claimed AI would wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years.
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