Recent graduates are flooding into a job market where the first rungs of the career ladder are being automated away. The government has introduced a grant for firms that take on apprentices, but Sarah Blackburn, founder of a careers consultancy, says it is not enough. "The jobs that used to be the first step - admin, data entry, junior analyst - are exactly the ones being automated," she said.
For earlier generations, the first job after school or university often meant learning on the job. A graduate might start by handling basic admin, typing up notes, or producing simple spreadsheets for a senior team. Those tasks gave newcomers a reason to be hired, a route into the business, and a set of workplace instincts.
As automation absorbs those tasks, that route is narrowing. The apprenticeship grant is designed to encourage firms to take on young people and train them, but Blackburn argues that a single incentive cannot repair a structural change in the types of jobs that are available.
Donald Trump's war in the Middle East and Labour's tax and minimum wage changes have also made firms cautious about hiring. "A degree is no longer a golden ticket," Blackburn said. "It's still worth having, but it will not get you a job on its own."
When employers worry about higher employment costs or unstable global conditions, they usually stop adding headcount. For young workers, this caution is particularly damaging because they are the easiest group to leave out of a hiring round. They do not have long employment histories, so they cannot easily prove that they are safer bets than more experienced candidates.
They are also more likely to be competing with automation for the same tasks. The result is a labour market where a degree is treated as a baseline rather than a differentiator.
For graduates, the lesson is not that education has become worthless. It is that a qualification is no longer enough on its own. Blackburn's warning is a reminder that the jobs which once provided the first evidence of ability - the junior analyst post, the data entry role, the admin position - are not reliably there anymore. The government's grant for apprentices is an attempt to create new entry routes, but it is modest when set against the number of people leaving education and the pace of automation.
Young people may need to be more flexible about where they start, taking positions in smaller firms, using internships or apprenticeships, or building skills in areas that still require human judgement. At the same time, policy questions remain. If firms are reluctant to hire because of tax, wage floors, and external conflict, a grant alone may not shift their behaviour.
The first rungs of the career ladder have not disappeared entirely, but they are harder to reach. For new graduates, the path to a career now demands more than a certificate; it demands a plan for navigating a world in which the old starting positions are being automated away.