Gen Z graduates who majored in ‘AI-proof’ careers resembling pharmacy, biology, and education are making less than $50,000 after graduation
191 Comments
Healthcare has become the new Retail.
Everything has become the new retail.
I explained to my wife one day that being a nurse was still being a server only she is serving being alive instead of food and she just took a long pause and looked at me like she wanted to hurt me.
Depends on the level because I can assure you the ones in suits are doing great by exploiting the ones who actually do the work.
I didnt realize this was news. I left college in 2014 with a Chemistry degree making $30,000. When offered $15/hr at a temp job, I was told they can get better people for less. I needed a job using my degree so I said yes and worked there 3 months. Dead end job that REQUIRED ...
Dismal. Best friend & I were chemistry nerds. Both planned on going into chemical engineering. He did, I got into commercial diving instead. When he graduated got an offer for a job out at a minesite. Asked me to look over his contract for him as I'm good at getting paid...
Was it through a temp agency? They were likely paying 2-3x your hourly wage total. In 2014-15, I worked for a non profit through a temp agency, I was getting 20 an hour and the temp agency was getting 30 an hour. They were paying 50 an hour for a role that should’ve cost the...
Everyone acted like I was wasting my “potential” when I swapped from chem to undecided business and then accounting but I’m so damn grateful I did. It wasn’t a practicality-fueled decision, I just realized that I didn’t like chemistry that much, but I really dodged a bullet.
Gen Z didn't plan for Capitalism's ability to eat its own guts for nurishment.
Millennial art majors watching from the sidelines thinking a reliable $50k wouldn't be so bad
They're not in control of their environment any more than Millennials or Gen X. Boomers are STILL running things & won't take their decrepit hands off the wheel & won't put on their glasses & refuse to stop driving headlong into clearly visible obstructions to prog...
I thought pharmacists made 6 figures. Education and biology never paid well.
They DO make 6 figure, just not RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE.
It was Pharmaceutical Sales that were 6 figures when I was in college. It was an open secret that only good looking people got the jobs, because then they would flirt with health staff to drive pill sales. It was highly competitive to get into. Not sure if that is still true a...
Retail pharmacists do, yes. I made 162k last year managing a retail pharmacy. $60-$70/hr is pretty typical for retail after a few years of experience. $70-80/hr is what you’ll usually see as a manager. It varies by the region, though, and how desperate places are for good phar...
Forget the actual term Marx used but the idea that any industry is AI proof is idiotic especially in America which is so service based. The powers that be will funnel people into certain roles then depress wages by using the threat of replacement. That's how it's always gone a...
"any industry is AI proof" Plumbing, HVAC, electrians, roofers, carpenters, etc. But ultimately this whole LLM frenzy is overblown and will settle down in the medium term. It's the short term that'll be painful.
Alienation of labor?
It’s why you have jesters for the ruling class running around on Fox News for a decade bleating that America needs welders. It’s not to help people find better jobs. It’s to convince people to flood the market so the rich don’t have to pay welders as much.
I make 42k. My boomer boss makes 80k. I taught him the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste, today.
It's ok. I know someone in IT that I had to teach how to unplug Ethernet cables
Your boomer boss is only making $80k?
Mind you the newest Gen Z workers don’t know those keyboard shortcuts either 😭 they have no idea how to even operate Office Suite
It's like that "Learn to code thing" all over again, then? Decade or so ago everyone was told programming was the future, always jobs, many monies. Lol, now the entire tech industry is so bloated and oversaturated seniors are making 60k and no one can even find a job. It's h...
25 years experience. havent been able to find a steady job for 2 1/2 years now. i had an in person interview just to be the ‘it guy’ at a shady telemarketing agency and got ghosted. pretty much have given up at this point.
This is what happens when there is no planning. Everyone is just chasing the latest trend. Capitalism doesn't work for the people, it always ends up in the same crisis cycles over and over again because there is no long term planning.
I was in tech for 6 years, the last three at one company. When I started, people were always hiring, when I got laid off last year, no one was hiring. I left tech because it stopped feeling stable, and I wasn’t finding any jobs hiring over 60/70k, a *huge* salary cut. And ev...
I feel like I’m losing hope in this entire life thing because in theory I did all of the right steps but for the wrong reasons, kind of fucking up the entire adolescent and young adult period of my life. I went to college when I didn’t want to, got good grades which I didn’t d...
Feel this hard. You're not alone. And I'm probably a few years older than you. It feels even worse the older you get. My side projects are basically graduate level research... Which I'll never be able to publish because I don't have University affiliation... which no one wil...
health inspector, water tester, food safety inspector all need lab work and usually don't require much beyond college experience. best of luck
County positions, maybe? I think my county hires science-y folks for testing groundwater and other stuff that I never think about...maybe yours has something similar.
I could have told them Biology is not the path to riches. Honestly its a stepping stone degree at best, and a dressed up art history degree at worst. Knowing what the Golgi Apparatus does and what years correspond to Van Gogh's Blue period are pretty equivalent in terms of wha...
You mean Picasso’s Blue Period… 🙄
One of my college friends got her degree in Bio 15 years ago. She went Job Corps for EMT, then ER Tech, Army National Guard - 68W Medic, 2yr ASN-RN, and finally 4yr BSN-RN. She's making bank as an ER Nurse and considering upgrading to mid-level (PA(-C) or some kind of Advanc...
My biology degree didn’t really do anything for me either. My chemistry minor helped more with my career by getting me a foot in the door. Then after about 3 years it was all about experience and who you knew in the industry.
As a bio major, who majors in bio expecting to make money without getting another degree?
This is why I did foodsci. The hours suck but the jobs you get are in affordable places.
quick, switch to microbio. its much harder, but not too hard, and muuuch more practical and applicable.
I mean, I make pretty decent money in socal. Enough to rent a nice apartment and save. Just gotta get out of academia and go into private industry. Don't need a PhD for that. I have no idea why everyone has this idea that you can't make any money with a bachelor's in biology.
I can't wait until the entire planet is living in a state of abject squalor save for the Musks and Bezoses in their little Elysium style compounds they've carved into the last vestiges of paradise this planet has left.
It won't get like that but something similar to that. If space tech catches on and it slowly is, those in power will offer a opportunity in a form of a trick. to coerce us poors to be 'pioneers in space' and take a 1 way trip to Mars to colonize it and extract minerals from it...
I dont think many older people understand just how dire the entry level job market has been for gen z, especially post-COVID. And because we cant get entry-level work in our degree-based fields, it basically prevents entry into the field as a whole. Because of this many indust...
To complicate things further, this was the exact kind of situation we'd found ourselves in as college graduates around the recession :(
I had the idea that gen z would be skipped like an Uno player and gen alpha would be stepping into the entry level role.
Laughs in classically trained professional horn player.
Is that what people with a long commute in traffic are putting on their resume these days?
You *can* sit with us. Art majors and music majors are basically the same family of kindred, creative students.
What on earth made them believe those are AI-proof careers?
I'm also wondering who majored in *education* thinking they were gonna strike it rich.
LinkedIn said they were!
We are all so conditioned to trust our oppressors.
Pharmacy is screwed by insurance companies who created PBMs solely to squeeze an extra 85% from every scrip filled
Only people who are already rich are allowed to make lots of money ☹️
Eventually, none of these careers will be ‘AI-proof.’ If anything, jobs within the STEM field are arguably more at risk
Lmao. Yes, the field where the *potential* for a hallucination can burn several billion dollars is *absolutely* at risk. Some places will fire you if they think you’ve touched AI once. The real risk is that US-owned companies over here still pay $66-68k where the entry level ...
Hospitality jobs funny enough will be the most AI-resistant.
“Pharmacy” with only a bachelors means technician. This is not pharmDs unless you’re counting residents - but that compensates for itself in 1-2y
I never understood going to college for that. I was a certified pharmacy technician at 16. I took the test online, studied, passed, and was working as a pharm tech part time throughout high school.
I need everyone to stop shitting on specialized knowledge thank you. Just because capitalism has made it so that knowledge generation (unless it’s data mining) isn’t profitable, doesn’t mean a degree is useless. The econ major working at an ad firm is making more money than t...
Idk who said education is AI proof because they are speed running to replacing teachers with AI tutors and just putting a couple cadavers in the room to meet any adult:child ratios they need.
Lol fr, education being the first profession AI will take the over.
People have been rushing into the trades as well but in my area they’re starting metal fab at -30k/yr and plumbing at -35k/yr. Yes normally you work up in the trades. Eating years of bad pay and abuse from “grown” men who cannot control their emotions. But this is even lower...
My brother saw me rack up 30k in student loans with no job, so he was smart and went to school to be an electrician. Couldn’t find a single job paying more than minimum wage. He worked at Taco Bell for 14 an hour rather than risk getting electrocuted for 7.25
I keep hearing we need all these plumbers and electricians, but I never see any job postings for them.
I’m wondering why more of these people making crap money don’t go out in their own as handymen. I often need something basic that doesn’t require a licensed plumber or electrician, and I would love to hire somebody experienced for less. My handy man charges $65 an hour cash w...
For the record I make around that much as a janitor
Whats the point anymore?
This is what I'm worried about. With over 43% of doctorate level workers being foreigners / H1Bs, and the low level positions being sent to AI or experienced applicants who will work on the cheap, what's left for new grads? Hopefully there is a solution since I still have sev...
I am in a field that is speed running to the AI gallows. I suspect I won't have a job in next five years. I could go back to school and retool, but I would need to take on a huge amount of student loan debt. That seems like a terrible idea when I am in my mid 40s. I guess I j...
I work in marketing automation and while I make good money, it’s only a matter of time before AI or outsourcing renders me useless. Lots of companies already shipped my role to India years ago. I just completed nursing prerequisites and they’re good for 10 years. While I don...
Biology majors didn’t need AI to exist to make less than 50K a year. You can have a fucking PhD in a biological science and barely make 50K if you stay in academia.
I mean, that is about the starting wage for someone who just graduated. It takes time to start earning money. This isn't an instagram world, it's the real thing.
This. Very few people get out of collage making 6 figures. You never start at the top.
in 2009 maybe
In biology, outside of medicine and biotech 35-40k was normal when I graduated in 2019 with a bachelor's, 50 with a masters, this was in consulting, education, and conservation work.
I made $35k when I graduated with a masters in biomedical research. Granted, it was in academia, but still. Finally making good money in industry, but it took many years to get there. The life sciences don't really pay that well unless you're an MD, but then comes the huge bur...
It's almost like if we don't fight for workers rights together, no occupation is really "safe" from the greed of our system. Huh.
You gotta sniff out those secret jobs. Niche is where the money hides. I work 20 hours a week and make over $100k. Every time I tell someone what I do, they say, "I never heard of that field before, but it makes sense that someone should be doing that." If you're curious,...
Do tell… I’ve been doing medical research for 30 years and only make $120K
whats the occupation?
This. I have a microbio degree. Work about 25-30 hours a week and make 130k at a big company, and have my own side business that is quickly growing. It is also very niche.
AI has NOT been popular for long enough for anyone to have chosen a career, entered college, graduated, and got a job. Like literally nobody has done that yet, Fortune...
No way are pharmacists making 50k per year
Stop accepting those wages. it's the prisoners dilemma. A rational society is one when individuals act irrationally to not accept a job offer they need to survive until everyone gets paid what they need to thrive.
I have a biology degree, no masters or PhD. I worked a few years in the lab making under 60k (first job was $15/hr lab tech). To make 6 figures with a bio degree, you'll need to commit yourself to the pharma lifestyle. You can branch from there (niche specific higher up roles ...
New grads are frustrated with the job market… what else is new?
I feel like this article (and by extension a lot of these comments) is conflating two issues here? Like the fact that people going into bio, pharmacy, and education are not making good money has been a thing since before AI. The article actually does a better job of making tha...
Even then what you make straight out of school vs what you make in 10 years can be very different, depending on the field and options for advancement. A lot of careers start pretty low. Some yeah you are kinda stuck but others can set you on a decent pay path once your foot ...
Bachelor degrees in health don't cut it. You have to get a grad degree to make any cash.
I have a PhD in molecular biology, graduated in 2018. I even did a postdoc at world-renowned medical school. At most, I only ever made $100,000. I worked in tech support for a huge 100,000+ person company. 30-40% of lab ware and reagents come from this company (IYKYK). They we...
Jokes on them, I chose math as my major, I my future career can't possibly drop $50,000 Because there are no jobs that would have paid me that to be begin with! *Old man laughing wheeze*
They paid that much before AI too, though.
How is biology “AI proof?” Is this just a rage bait article?
I'd like to see AI bungle a western blot! /s
Okay... "pharmacy majors with just a bachelors degree make only $40k" isn't that surprising to me. Pharmacists are doctors. Real doctors. PharmD's do a residency. That's like saying "I studied pre-law, but didn't become a lawyer". I'd expect paralegals to be down there to...
They said "AI proof" not "billionaire proof"
Trust me. Don't get a biology degree. Do nursing or become a CNA or paramedic or doctor.
I was a millenial graduate in biology and made $27k out of college 10 years ago. This is not earth-shattering information. If you major in any of those things, you probably will get a job as a lab or pharmacy tech, or educator of some sort, and those jobs pay shit for entry-le...
Biology major here. Yeah. 40k was just about the best anyone was offering me out of college. I even had a leg up with 2 years of laboratory work experience. I'm struggling to break the 50k threshold even now.
Yeah. Pharmacy isn't AI-proof. There are quite a few prescriptions that go to through an automation process and are filled by machines off-site only to be shipped to the store to be dispensed. It saves 30 seconds of time for the pharmacy tech, but takes 2-3 days longer for ...
Bachelor's degrees in biology and education were never very profitable. I know a lot of people in lab who only got into it because there was nothing for them to do with a generic bio degree. Even then, a separate and expensive med tech program is required on top of the degree ...
Lol. Literally picking the bottom 10 earners and pretending it's bad. Healthcare isn't nursing more likely it's just raw healthcare administration.
and yet my cost has tripled. Guess who is getting all the profits?
I hate being "that guy" because I sound exactly like my parents, but as someone who has been out of college close to 25 years (I'm closing in on 50 years old), you should know that a college degree doesn't guarantee you post-graduation riches. I still had to work my way up in ...
*laughs in theatre major*
Well, that’s about what I’m making 25 years after graduation, so good job them.
I'm nearly about to start earning 50k without a high school diploma at a dead end job. How the fuck?
Genuine question: How does one major in pharmacy? To be a pharmacist, you must go to pharmacy school, which is beyond just a bachelors degree. To be a pharm tech, you don't even need to go to college.
This is pretty normal. A bachelor’s in chem/bio/physics you’re probably gonna start at $25/hr. Has been this way for a decade now. Not to say it’s good because inflation has gone way up but this has been the standard pay for these degrees.
Pharmacists don’t stop at bachelors degree. It’s not clear who they’re talking about.
Pharmacy? Pharmacy needs AI more than anything i can think of. Also, i hate AI. But, seriously this drug cant go with this drug and this condition is where AI excels.
you don't need AI for that, a fucking excel spreadsheet could tell you that a pharmacist isn't just a goddamn pill checker, pharmacy involves the entire R&D pipeline for creating drugs and finding the best ROAs for them, and finding ways to keep the drugs stable, and to g...
You're literally describing a situation where using AI without a human in charge would be a terrible idea. When it comes to your health, the last thing you want is an AI hallucinating and making unchecked mistakes.
I'm calling BS on pharmacists making under 50k.
None of them are "AI-proof". The jobs markets will still be there, but the higher end of them will shrink since the demand for highly trained individuals will be replaced by AI. Basically, you'd need to get advanced degrees from top tier institutions in order to get those job...
Well, the instructors teaching many of these courses are making under $50,000, too. I teach at a college and make around $35,000 a year. It sucks all the way down.
I have a biology degree and my wife is a pharmacist and we both make around $130k
My wife has an English degree with German minor and makes that 🤷♂️. Not a flex or statement about y'all's degrees, but an equal data point. I'm a General Studies major and at 6 fig, not quite 130. I work at a consulting company.
AI proof careers and then proceeds to post 3 of the likeliest early adopters. What? Might as well list developers.
i see articles like this every day. it feels like nothing makes any money anymore. what are we meant to do? everything is so expensive and no job pays enough if you can even get one
As a bio major can confirm. Worked as an intern for free for months before they hired me… at 45k then let me go 4 years later when I finally got to 55k. All while hiring H1B scientists rather than US PHDs. This country sucks man
This a misleading article. They surveyed bachelors-only pharmacy majors. Yeah, they’re probably baristas and are no closer to becoming a pharmacist than any other science major would be. I stopped reading after that.
I got a PhD in 2007 and yea, made about that much… it gets better over time. I think the expectation of high salary right after college is INSANE! Who got this idea into peoples heads??? Have some god damn humility. Americans are just wild
Finished my PhD in biology in July 2024. I've had two interviews since, that went nowhere.
“A biology degree is supposed to make graduates money”….said no one ever. If you’re a biologist and care about making good money, you need to talk to every relatable person possible and research the hell out of your options.
None of these are particularly AI-proof.
Some people have jobs? Must be pretty sweet. I had one not too long ago then that orange idiot started destabilizing a whole bunch of shit.
I took a handful of courses, then covid hit and killed my program. Turns out the retail jobs I work right now pay "several dollars an hour" more than people who stuck with it are now. Insane. And they wonder why we all wanna leave the country, an economically viable future i...
Nuclear power is gonna be big in the next decades.
U S A ! U S A !
And they're trying like hell to get all the experienced folk out of those fields who make well over $100k by slashing their hours, piling on more stressful work that they don't get extra pay for, and being inflexible with scheduling. It's so fucked up
...in USA though, right? Although we still need to stop it
Where the F do you guys live?? Most people here in Austria don’t even make 2000€ after tax and insurance per month.
Oh hai I have a masters degree and no money :(
In my experience, business intelligence, data analytics, and supply chain/logistics are the only remaining profitable sectors for us non-billionaires to build any level of wealth.
No shit