Gen Z Concerned About Impact of AI

There’s never been a more tumultuous time for young people to plan for and embark on their careers, and employers can benefit greatly from career insights from this data set. A new 2024 Career Interest Survey of 10,072 Gen Z students (born after 1997) from the National Society of High School Scholars, gives insights into what motivates an adventurous, civic-minded, concerned, vocal, tech-savvy, emerging workforce.  

• More youth (59%) believe that AI will have a more negative than positive effect on society in the next 10 years. More than half (55%) are extremely or very much concerned about AI’s impact on personal privacy and 62% are worried about job displacement.  

• Student debt isn’t going away—but they don’t expect parents to pay. One quarter of students expect to incur anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 in student debt, but just 14% say they expect family assistance as a component of how they’ll pay for college.  

• Google, Amazon, and Apple made the list of top 10 preferred employers but healthcare and STEM remain the biggest job targets.  

• Nearly half (48%) of next-generation workers say the most important quality in an employer is clear communication skills.  

• Young people want experience. More than nine out of 10 expect to participate in an internship and almost three quarters (70%) are interested in certification courses to prepare for what lies ahead.  

• Two-thirds (66%) expect to live at home when they start their first job and three quarters (73%) plan to stay at home for one or two years. 

Most (63%) have concerns about pursuing passions as careers due to not making sufficient income. The top career fields of interest include medicine (24%), healthcare (22%), and engineering (18%). Gen Z has a strong interest in working in healthcare settings, with their top three preferred employers being St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Mayo Clinic, and Healthcare Service Corps.  

Health benefits trump time-off and flexible work schedules as their most valued compensation benefits, with 72% saying health benefits, 25% saying work-life balance, and 61% saying flexible work.  

Fair treatment of all employees continues to rank at the top of all workplace preference (28%), followed by work-life balance (25%) and corporate social responsibility (14%). More than two-thirds (67%) say they expect employers to offer in-person training. Clear health and safety guidelines rank first regarding importance of working conditions, followed by easy commute and modern amenities of office spaces.  

Almost half (41%) believe student loan debt has or will prevent them from pursuing their passions. Scholarships play a big role in financing college—student pick them as their top contributor to financing higher education. Two-thirds (66%) say they’ll live at home after college to be able to pay for their student loans.  

Healthcare and health-related issues are the most important issue to Gen Z students, coinciding with their desire to work in healthcare settings. This is largely due to their own personal experiences with health-related issues. The economy, social justice and civil rights, and government corruption are the most important issues in deciding who young voters will vote for in the 2024 presidential election.