Cornering The Job Market: America's Fading Faith in Economic Mobility & Gen Z Wants RTO??

Is the American Dream slipping away? A new Wall Street Journal poll shows only 1 in 4 Americans believe they can raise their standard of living (the lowest confidence since the 1980s). Even more striking, nearly 70% say hard work no longer guarantees success, a sentiment uniting people across politics, income, and age.

At the same time, today’s job search feels broken. With LinkedIn applications up 45% thanks to one-click apply, candidates are caught in a numbers game they can’t win. The smarter move? Skip mass-applying and pick up the phone; connecting with a recruiter can set you apart in a crowded market.

Meanwhile, workplace culture is shifting fast. Gen Z is showing surprising interest in office life, with many craving connection after years of remote work. And after a decade of encouraging self-expression, big companies like Microsoft and Google are drawing stricter lines between activism and the workplace.

But it’s not all bleak. For those with AI skills, opportunity has never been greater. AI researcher postings have doubled, with salaries pushing $230,000 and total packages climbing toward half a million. This stark divide between widespread economic pessimism and explosive growth in specialized fields paints a vivid picture of where the future is headed.

In this episode, we unpack what these trends mean for job seekers, professionals, and employers. Plus tips on how you can navigate the shifting landscape to your advantage.

News Articles:
1. https://www.wsj.com/economy/wsj-norc-economic-poll-73bce003?mod=hp_lead_pos8 
2. https://www.businessinsider.com/applying-for-jobs-easy-hard-to-stand-out-2025-8
3. https://www.thehrdigest.com/why-gen-z-is-swapping-work-from-home-for-watercooler-chats/
4. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/workplace/workplace-employee-activism-company-response-7ef095f6

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Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:02):
Today's job market headlines include why Gen Z
wants to return to the office,how job seekers can improve AI
literacy, politics in the officebecoming a thing of the past,
and yet another CEO is fired forhaving an inappropriate
relationship.
But first there's a new WallStreet Journal poll that just
came out.
It shows that only 25% ofAmericans think they have a good

(00:23):
shot at raising their standardof living.
This is the lowest confidencelevel seen since the late 1980s.
Nearly 70% of those surveyedsay that the notion of hard work
leading to success is outdatedor perhaps was never true at all
.
This poll reveals a massive gapbetween what the economic data
is showing and what people areactually feeling, and it's not

(00:46):
limited to a specific groupeither.
This pessimism seems to spanpolitical parties, ages, genders
and even income levels, wherehouseholds earning over $100,000
still have little faith inwhat's happening these days.
What surprises me about thispoll is that it's not
generational.
We know that young peoplearen't feeling very optimistic
these days.
They don't believe that theycan do better than their parents

(01:09):
.
They're having a very difficulttime getting ahead due to
inflation.
Being able to buy a home seemslike an impossible thing to
achieve for many young people.
But when that American dream issubsiding for the older
generation, for people my agewho grew up believing this?
Well, not only believing it,but seeing it happen.

(01:30):
Most people I grew up withstarted with nothing or very
little and were able to succeedthrough hard work and time.
Time is a big factor in this.
We've seen that American dreamreally come to fruition.
Seen that American dream reallycome to fruition, but this poll
is really just a bad sign forwhat people are experiencing
personally and not believingthat they will be able to get

(01:51):
ahead.
In other news, business Insiderpublished an article titled
Applying for Jobs has Never BeenEasier.
That's Exactly the Problem.
It focuses on what's happenedwith the one-click apply option
that exists on all the major jobboards.
Linkedin job applications inparticular have surged over 45%
year over year and it just showswhat a mess has been created

(02:11):
with this option, and it's badfor candidates.
It's equally bad for recruiters.
Now, I know that no one feelsbad for recruiters and that's
okay, but the goal of any jobseeker is to get their resume to
stand out from the pile, andit's unfortunate that there's so
many people who give careeradvice.
I see this online all the timethat imply it's a numbers game.

(02:33):
This article talks about that,too, where a candidate believed
that by applying to more jobs,it would just increase his
chance for success.
And that's just not reality.
Success and that's just notreality.
There's a lot stacked againstcandidates right now, with AI
tools advertising the ability toapply to hundreds of jobs with
no effort, or sites like scalejobs that I just discovered,
where you can quite literallyhire people to apply for jobs on

(02:57):
your behalf.
The bottom line is, as acandidate, you can't win this
numbers game and you shouldn'teven try.
The best thing you can do ifyou're applying for jobs is to
try to just let the recruiterwho's responsible for the role
know who you are.
Of course, if there's someonewho can refer you, that's great,
but odds are you're not goingto have a personal connection to
leverage.

(03:18):
Just pick up the phone and tryto get a hold of the person
who's recruiting for the job.
You probably won't reach themlive, that's okay.
Just leave a voicemail.
Let them know who you are, letthem know the job you applied to
and that you're genuinelyinterested in the role.
It will go a long, long way tonotifying the recruiter that you
exist and allowing them to lookfor your resume, and they want

(03:39):
to do that right.
A recruiter doesn't want to gothrough a pile of unqualified
resumes they don't.
They want to find the candidatewho's going to get hired in the
most efficient way possible.
So leave them a voicemail, tryto reach them live.
Let them know who you are.
That's all you need to do.
It won't work 100% of the timeNothing will but it will go a
long way towards increasing theodds in your favor.

(04:02):
Moving on, there's an article inthe Washington Post today that
shares five ways job seekers canimprove their AI literacy.
They say that you shouldexperiment with AI tools in your
everyday life.
So use ChatGPT or Gemini orGrok for simple tasks like
planning a vacation or budgetingfor groceries.
It'll make you comfortable withit.
I like that.
It's a good tip.
They also say that you shouldtranslate your personal use into

(04:24):
professional scenarios so youcan start to understand how AI
will fit into your job.
So use it for drafting emails,analyzing data, maybe outlining
presentations.
I like that too.
But be very careful in lettingAI be your voice.
Don't use what it producesverbatim.
It's very obvious to those whouse AI a lot when they see

(04:45):
something written by chat GPT,so use it as a guide, but don't
just copy and paste from there.
It's just a bad idea and itwill, quite frankly, make you
look worse as a result of doingit.
Another thing you can do istake free courses on AI that are
offered so OpenAI and Google.
They offer these courses forfree that allow you to increase
your skills in that area.

(05:06):
I think it's a great idea.
They suggest keeping an AIjournal where you document what
you try, what works, whatdoesn't.
I think that's okay.
I don't know how practical thatis, but the more you use it,
the better you're going to be.
There's no question about that.
So it does make sense to tryand see what works and what

(05:26):
doesn't, because AI is not goingto have the same success level
in every scenario.
Anyone who's used it a lotcertainly discovers that
eventually and then showcase AIon your resume Okay, now we're
really getting into it wherethey say don't just list AI
experience, but specify whatexactly you've done.
I think that's a great idea.
We know that employers want tosee AI skills right now.

(05:49):
I mean, there's nothing hotterin the job market but just make
sure you can back it up the ruleof putting anything on your
resume is always that you haveto be prepared to answer
questions about it.
So if you say you can do it,make sure that you actually can.
In other news there's an HRDigest article titled why Gen Z
is Swapping Work from Home forWater Cooler Chats.

(06:11):
Okay, so here's what thisarticle is about.
It says that Gen Z now wants togo back to work, or at least
many of them do.
According to the survey, 38% ofGen Z workers say they feel
socially isolated as a directresult of remote work.
Almost half said they'reconsidering switching from a
home-based job to a career thatinvolves more direct contact
with other people, and four in10 admitted to feeling lonely

(06:33):
because of the nature of theirwork.
This is no surprise to me.
A lot of people who were moreexperienced in their career have
sensed this coming and feltthat it was inevitable because
you haven't yet had time toestablish a professional or even
a large personal network whenyou're young and just starting
out in your career, and it's aproblem.

(06:54):
I mean, look, we all loveworking at home I certainly do,
but I'm experienced.
I have a big network.
I've been in the workforce forlonger than I'd care to mention,
but in my case, our youngemployees.
They just haven't had thatopportunity yet and it's
something that I worry about ontheir behalf.
I mean, I love that they get towork remotely, that they get to
work from anywhere.
That's awesome and I'm so happyfor them.

(07:16):
But you have to find ways toforce building a network.
You can't just let it happennaturally, like it used to,
because it won't when you'reremote.
So we're seeing this now in theresult of surveys like this,
where young people are realizingthat there are some negatives
that outweigh the positives,potentially, of being able to

(07:37):
work virtually.
So it's an interesting survey,not a surprise, but what I'll be
curious to see is whether thistrend continues, where the
younger generation is actuallyasking to come back to work
versus fighting it.
We'll have to see how thatplays out.
There's another Wall StreetJournal article titled the Boss
has had it With All the OfficeActivists Now.

(07:58):
For years, office activism wasnot just tolerated.
In many cases it was celebrated, it was encouraged.
But apparently those days areover.
Microsoft and Google recentlyterminated employees who staged
protests inside their offices.
Tesla got rid of an engineerwho turned his Cybertruck into a
protest billboard, and it seemslike those days are just over.
Now.
Jp Morgan has gone so far as tosay they're just not tolerating

(08:22):
it at all.
They're banning politicaldebate, they're banning internal
discussions about return tooffice mandates.
I mean, these companies justaren't going to have it anymore.
And despite the backlash andthey're getting a lot of
backlash the executives arerefusing to negotiate with the
internal pressure campaigns, andthe reason is because they now
can't.
To me, this shift indicates justhow far the pendulum has really

(08:44):
swung to being an employer'smarket, which it is now.
It really looks like the daysof bringing your whole self to
work have been replaced withalmost a 1950s style mandate
where work is work, keep youroutside life to yourself.
We don't want to hear it inhere.
It'll be interesting to see howlong it will last.
I don't know.
I mean it depends really onwhat the talent war is like.

(09:08):
In some areas, employees arestill very much in control.
There was an article that wasjust published by Recruitanomics
titled the AI Talent War isHeating Up.
I think it's been heating upfor a while, but the demand is
just skyrocketing right now,where monthly job postings for
AI researchers have more thandoubled in the past year and a
half.
I mean that is just a massivenumber.

(09:29):
The top 10% of AI researchersright now are averaging nearly
230K a year, while compensationpackages from the postings that
exist right now, once you add inthe perks and benefits like
stock options, are approachinghalf a million dollars.
I mean these are just big, bignumbers that we're seeing right
now and I don't know if it'sgoing to continue, but I believe

(09:52):
that for the foreseeable future, ai is just where it's at and I
say this over and over since Istarted doing this almost daily
show and it's because thenumbers are just staggering.
In this area, they areundeniable.
A couple other things for today.
The CEO of Nestle has beenfired due to an inappropriate

(10:13):
relationship with a subordinate.
This just happened.
He's already been replaced.
Now, of course, this is on theheels of Coldplaygate.
What is going on with theseguys?
I mean, this isn't new.
This isn't something thatshould be a surprise to anyone
who gets busted for having arelationship with someone who's
a direct report or a subordinate.

(10:35):
Don't do it.
I mean guys and I say guysbecause that seems to be who it
is, maybe not all the time, butjust you know.
Wait until you leave the office, go find someone else.
Don't play this game.
You're going to get burned.
You're going to lose.
We'll see who's next.
But Nestle CEO, you're out ofthere.

(10:56):
Good luck with whatever happensnext.
And then Congress has returnedto work after taking off the
month of August.
I mean, how nice is that whenyou just get to go home for a
month after doing what manyconsider to be not so great of a
job.
You're not really accountableuntil the next election, so just
go ahead, take a month off.

(11:17):
The American people arestruggling, but what the hell,
go enjoy your summer.
I guess, yeah, congress, getback to work.
And then your fun fact for theday there was a 1910 survey that
found more than half of all USworkers woke up before sunrise
to start work.
I mean, this really highlightshow early our typical schedule
is compared to what existed forall of human history, where work

(11:42):
started in an entirelydifferent way, where I don't
know that most of us wake upbefore sunrise now, but we
certainly don't start workingbefore sunrise anymore, and
that's a good thing.
I think that's a positiveevolution for sure.
So look, be glad we live whenwe do.
It is a time of opportunity.
It's not easy, but it's betterthan it used to be, so we have

(12:03):
that going for us for sure.
So thank you for listening.
Please like, subscribe, comment.
If you disagree with anything Isay or want to debate it or
agree, I want to hear that too,and I look forward to speaking
with you soon.