Young people are struggling to score their first jobs, and it might be because they’re just not ready to enter the workforce, after missing out on critical social development during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joblessness in Generation Z is on the rise as nearly one million young British people, between the ages of 16 and 24, were NEETs (not in education, employment, or training), between July and September 2025, according to the U.K. Office for National Statistics.

Identified as a crisis, the government launched an independent review into NEETs in December, led by former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Worryingly, the ONS report found that almost 600,000 of those young people who were unemployed were also not actively looking for a job.

Young people are facing several challenges in the job market, from artificial intelligence eliminating entry-level positions to increased competition for jobs. More than 1.2 million applications were submitted for just 17,000 graduate roles in the U.K. last year, per The U.K.’s Institute for Student Employers.

Meanwhile, the number of job openings have decreased nearly 10% on the year to 729,000 in the September to November period from a year ago, the ONS found. There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy between August and October, up from 1.8 the previous year.

It’s not just the economic climate, with employers and experts saying that Gen Z are not adequately prepared to join the workforce.

Milburn told The Times in a recent interview that employers find that young people “aren’t work ready” when they enter full-time jobs after school. “Young people don’t necessarily have work experience, and what they have learnt at school isn’t necessarily pertinent for the world of work.”

Singapore has claimed the top position in the 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) for the first time, bolstered by its robust education systems, sound governance and a proactive approach to sustaining an adaptive, innovation-ready workforce in the age of artificial intelligence.

In its 11th edition this year, the index — produced by business school INSEAD and in partnership with D.C.-based think tank Portulans Institute — measured how countries grow, attract and retain talent across all income groups.

This year’s report, themed “resilience in the age of disruption,” ranked 135 economies globally on 77 indicators such as soft skills and AI talent concentration across six pillars.

This report comes at a time when “rapid technological change, geopolitical uncertainty and profound societal transitions make dependable talent metrics more essential than ever,” said Rafael Escalona Reynoso, CEO of Portulans Institute.

“While historians can give us more perspective, it certainly feels as if we are living in a period of maximum disruption and anxiety,” said INSEAD’s dean of research and innovation, Lily Fang. “Geopolitical uncertainty poses massive challenges to the resilience of global commerce and markets, while artificial intelligence presents both amazing opportunities to enhance human potential — but also unfathomable risks.”

Here are the top 10 countries in the 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index:

1. Singapore
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Sweden
6. Netherlands
7. Norway
8. Luxembourg
9. United States
10. Australia

Notably, Switzerland was leapfrogged by Singapore and fell from its top position for the first time in the history of the GTCI. However, the country records multiple top-five results across the study’s framework, including internet access in schools (1st), government effectiveness (2nd), and AI skills migration (4th).

High-income European countries continue to dominate the ranking, accounting for seven of the top ten positions.

Switzerland, Denmark and Finland closely follow each other in the top ten, “suggesting a shared focus on enabling and retaining talent through favorable conditions and access to opportunities,” according to the report. These three countries consistently rank near the top in enabling and retaining talent.

Several Nordic countries have jumped places in the top ten since the last GTCI in 2023. Denmark moved up one position to 3rd this year from 4th in the 2023 report, Finland jumped two places from 6th to 4th, and Sweden jumped four places from 9th in rank in 2023 to 4th this year.

Meanwhile, the United States fell from third place in 2023 to ninth in this year’s report — its weakest showing since 2013….

Growing up, Zames Chew thought he wanted to work a white-collar role at a company like Google, but his career took a different turn. Today, the 26-year-old runs the Singapore-based handyman service Repair.sg, alongside his 24-year-old brother and co-founder, Amos Chew.

In 2024, their Singapore-based company Repair.sg brought in 1.7 million Singapore dollars (about $1.3 million), according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

“When I was younger, my dream was always to work in big tech,” said Chew. But one day in early 2016, he discovered a gap in the market.

“Our parents were looking for a service provider to fix something around the house,” said Chew. “I was just looking online, and … there [seemed] to be nowhere to find service providers [online] back in the day. So I was like … let me put together a website and see what happens from there.”

So, at age 16, Chew spent 30 Singapore dollars (about $23) to buy a website domain name, had his father help him register the business, and Repair.sg was born.

Almost a decade later, what started as a blue-collar side hustle by two brothers, now has over 20 employees and is on track to bring in about $2.3 million in 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Sammi Ekmark, 29, co-founded personalized greeting and gift card company Ink’d Greetings in 2023 alongside her husband Andrew — a major pivot from her previous career as a star tennis player.

Ekmark picked up the sport when she was 10 years old, and by the time she was in college, she was playing on a Division I team where she was individually ranked among the top 50 tennis players in singles in the United States.

“I really focused on tennis. I was 92-0 in high school, so I never lost a match,” said Ekmark. “I played every single day for two and a half hours after school,” she said, adding that this was on top of her matches and tournaments on weekends.

Her goal was to become a professional tennis player, so she said she would often prioritize the sport over her academics and social life.

It didn’t take long for university recruiters to notice. As high school graduation approached, she received many offers from colleges around the nation. Ultimately, she decided to go with Arizona State University (ASU), which gave her a full-ride scholarship to attend the school and play for their Division I team.

Unfortunately, one night while playing a late tennis tournament in college, Ekmark planted her feet wrong and tore her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), one of the main ligaments in the knee. This is known to be a major injury in sports.

“A lot of the times people do consider ACL [tears] a massive career ender,” she said. “When I got my injury … It made me take a year off, and it was very tough. Tennis was still my life, but it was hard to get back into it as good as before.”

Ekmark recovered from the tear and got back to playing tennis, but along the way, she also developed an interest for business after taking an entrepreneurship class at her university. Although she had dedicated much of her life to the sport, she ultimately decided to pivot and focus on building Ink’d Greetings.

Today, her business brings in over $25,000 in revenue a month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

In the U.S., parents spend on average $3,000 annually on their children’s sports, with 64% reporting rising costs in recent years, according to a 2025 report by insurance company New York Life.

However, less than 2% of more than 500,000 athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association schools are drafted into a professional sport, according to NCAA data.

“I unfortunately wasn’t as serious about academics…

Paris Hilton is successful many times over. The reality TV star turned entrepreneur is the founder and CEO of 11:11 Media, a global entertainment company she aims to become “the next Disney” that combines her passions in music, beauty, fashion and philanthropy.

But people haven’t always believed in her business savvy.

“For a long time, I felt like people had an idea of who I was that didn’t reflect the real me,” Hilton told CNBC Make It over email following an appearance at the American Express Leadership Academy. “Early in my career, I leaned into the character I created on ‘The Simple Life,’ but behind the scenes, I was laser-focused on building my brand.”

Now, the multi-hyphenate and CNBC Changemaker says she’s been able to “take back my narrative” through career achievements like launching her company in 2021 and using her platform to advocate for kids in what’s known as the “troubled teen industry.”

“I’ve learned that the best way to overcome being underestimated is to let your work speak for itself and to show up authentically,” Hilton said.

The businesswoman said authenticity is a key trait in the people she decides to work with, in addition to being passionate and creative. “And kindness is non-negotiable for me,” Hilton added. “It shows people’s true character, and I want my brand and everyone who represents it to lead with kindness.”

Authenticity also guides her philanthropy. “Every cause I champion comes from my lived experience, and I would never fight for something I didn’t believe in wholeheartedly,” she said.

In recent years, Hilton has used her spotlight to advocate for children harmed by America’s child welfare, juvenile justice, education and health-care systems. Last year, she appeared before Congress and helped to pass the bipartisan Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.

Hilton encouraged other young entrepreneurs to meaningfully integrate philanthropy into their work. “Impact shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be part of your mission from the very beginning,” Hilton said, adding that the second hire she made for her company was 11:11 Media’s head of impact Rebecca Grone.

“I’d also encourage young entrepreneurs to think creatively about impact and truly listen to the communities they want to serve,” Hilton said. “When you have a platform or influence, you can inspire your audience to take action alongside you, and that’s a powerful way to create lasting change.”

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As more companies brazenly declare AI-driven layoffs in 2025, the first jobs on the chopping block appear to be junior positions and entry-level jobs.

Graduate schemes and internships are at risk of becoming a thing of the past as major firms slash headcount in a push to deploy AI. Recently, Amazon laid off 14,000 corporate employees as it aims to invest in its “biggest bets” which includes generative AI.

Other companies that are leaning on AI and cutting jobs include Accenture, Salesforce, Lufthansa and Duolingo.

Now, concerns are mounting over whether AI can do the work of entry-level workers and graduates, thereby raising the barrier for entry.

In fact, 62% of U.K. employers expect that junior, clerical, managerial and administrative roles will most likely be lost to AI, according to a new survey of 2,019 senior HR professionals and decision makers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD.)

And further data shows that the number of graduate roles available has declined in the past year. In the U.S., postings for entry-level jobs have declined about 35% since January 2023, per data from labor research firm Revelio Labs.

In the U.K., the Institute for Student Employers found in its annual Student Recruitment Survey that just under 17,000 graduate vacancies in the U.K. had received 1.2 million applications highlighting the intense competition and the limited positions available to young people.

As companies cut back on hiring junior workers, Fabian Stephany, assistant professor of AI and work at Oxford Internet Institute, pointed out that recruiting entry-level workers is actually an “investment” in the future.

Although they tend to make mistakes and require hands-on training, experts told CNBC why replacing junior workers with AI will actually backfire on companies in the long-term.