Bleak outlook for the young.

That’s unfortunate but it isn’t the future for all Oxbridge graduates, or graduates from any good Universities.
But it is the case that there are fewer jobs and will be chased by many for the fewer good places.
It’s also true that there are fewer more lowly jobs around.Presumably because of automation, AI , employers trying to manage with fewer staff and the fact that the population is at an all time high.

I am with you watermeadow. My grandson left sixth form college two years ago with good grades. Apart from a brief temporary seasonal job he has had nothing despite applying for at least ten “vacancies” a week. He either gets rejected or his application is not even acknowledged. It is soul destroying and these are for basic supermarket/ warehouse jobs. He has long given up any hope of apprenticeships. How are these young people supposed to make their way in the world? There is no hope for them of owning their own homes or even renting. I feel so sad for the young and how all this can lead to depression and mental health issues.

I remember that saying many years ago when my children were teens and twenties:
Q What do you ask an Oxbridge graduate?
A Can I have a Big Mac and French fries please?

Somehow all the youngsters I knew from that time, now 40 and 50 year olds, have become successful with good careers.
I did have to pay for extra tutoring for mine even then, as some of the teaching was less than adequate, particularly in Maths, but it was worth it.
It is worrying now if there are not enough good science teachers in schools.

As Oreo points out, AI will replace many jobs in future too.

Some jobs can never be replaced by AI. While studying English literature is interesting it's not a guarantee of an actual job. Do young people need more detailed counselling on what exactly they should study that might lead to a real job?

My grandson studied Business, Finance and IT. Still no job and he won’t claim benefits because he believes he hasn’t earned any.

As regards your grandson being taught A Level Physics by an inadequate teacher, where are these additional teachers that were promised with the 20% VAT increase on private school fees? I don't mean those new ones who are merely plugging holes where teachers are leaving the profession faster than they are being replaced. I mean the extra highly qualified Maths and Science teachers that Starmer and Reeves spoke about? Hmm.

I know, our youngest grandchildren are 16 and 17 and would love a part time job to have their own money which would ease the financial burden on their parents. Their sister is 10 years older and was able to get a part time job at 16, she was able to get a transfer to work in the same store while she was at university, when she graduated she worked for a while in retail for the same store but is now happily settled in an admin job and has had two promotions. Both the younger ones plan to go to university after A Levels but part if me wants them to get a trade or a good apprenticeship and avoid the huge debt they will incur.

For at least three decades there has been an obsession with academic achievement which results in too many people thinking that GCSE grades and then university is the only way to succeed in life. The idea is that, unless young people can show a prospective employer a degree certificate, they stand no chance of getting a job. This, combined with an aversion to the idea of starting at the bottom and working their way up, has resulted in a situation where young people must expect to start their working lives heavily in debt. It needn't be that way (and it didn't used to be) but it's going to take a long time before people realise that we're creating too many over-qualified people chasing too few jobs. (And the new god, AI, is only going to make that situation worse.)
Also (don't shoot the messenger), due to turning universities into businesses which operate largely on the bums-on-seats principle, too many youngsters are being shoehorned into universities who really shouldn't be there. I taught more than a few of those during my working life and felt terribly sorry for them. In each new intake there were always several who simply couldn't string a coherent sentence together, verbally or on paper. Sadly, their parents thought uni was a magic door which would automatically swing open to let their kids into a jobs market falling over itself to give them highly-paid work. It's a sad situation but general principles, attitudes and ideals have to change or it will just go on.

Aveline

Some jobs can never be replaced by AI. While studying English literature is interesting it's not a guarantee of an actual job. Do young people need more detailed counselling on what exactly they should study that might lead to a real job?

It's a question we need to look at closely going forward. Though we could also say that no education is ever wasted, whatever the subject.

Young people need better careers advice.
It's no good trying to push them in a direction which would be totally unsuitable, of course, but they should be offered options suited to their strengths which would lead to the kind of jobs needed in the future.

They should also be prepared to be flexible as they might well need to retrain and change career paths in the future.

My 24 year old GD with a good honours degree and a master’s is waitressing and has no clear path into a professional life. She is adaptable and will I am sure find a way forward, but she is only one of many and as an only child doesn’t have much debt because we spent her inheritance up front as it were. I wonder for the social order if we have such a disenfranchised generation who are not allowed to contribute to society.