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Is university worth the money? | BBC News

2025-08-31 News & Politics
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BBC News
BBC News
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Job Market Disruption: Graduates Embrace Entrepreneurship Over Traditional Roles

Discover why top economists and successful entrepreneurs advise recent graduates to favor starting their own ventures over seeking traditional employment amid AI uncertainty.

Short Summary

  • Entry-level hiring dropped sharply, with new grad rates slowing by over 20% in the US and UK recently.
  • AI adoption, exemplified by Chat GPT, is displacing jobs, threatening 300 million roles globally according to forecasts.
  • Entrepreneurship is surging as a viable path, showing a 60% increase in new business creation in the last year alone.
  • Experts actively challenge the high financial cost of a college degree, suggesting skills acquisition and real-world experience hold greater weight now.
  • Financial literacy, not upfront capital, is presented as the true requirement for launching a necessary and viable business today.

This segment explores the current tough landscape for university leavers, contrasting it with the rising viability and perceived lower risk of self-employment. It features crucial insights from LinkedIn's Chief Economist, recent graduate Oliver Dalabani, and serial entrepreneur Simon Squibb on navigating this new economic climate.

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Description

As this year's graduates head into a historically uncertain jobs market, many are starting their own businesses as they struggle to land more traditional roles. The BBC's Ben Thompson talks to LinkedIn's chief economist, a recent graduate who has just launched a cosmetic brand and serial entrepreneur and social media star Simon Squibb. Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news #Jobs #University #BBCNews

Top Comments (10)

@markrichley4075 2025-08-31

Sorry, but the guy doing a BBC interview from a car doesn’t live in the real world - not everyone can “give themselves a job”. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur. Same fallacy as the old leader of Samsung when he said “Nobody remembers who came second” - without understanding that not everybody can come first. That philosophy does far more damage society-wide than it does good.

507 33 replies
@dazlederose 2025-08-31

People often say, “If you can’t get a job, just create one.” But it’s not that simple—if it were, far more people would be doing it. Starting a business requires more than just ambition; it takes money, resources, and connections, which many graduates don’t have when they’re just starting out. It’s almost a catch-22: you need financial stability and experience to successfully launch something of your own, but the whole reason you’re trying to create a job is because you don’t have those things yet. On top of that, starting a business also carries risk—not just financially, but mentally and emotionally—which makes it an even steeper climb for someone who’s already struggling to find their footing in the workforce.

421 30 replies
@TheDesperateArtist 2025-09-01

Hey, let me save you 16 minutes - the answer is 'no'

261 11 replies
@daezjn 2025-09-02

What the media fail to highlight is that it’s not just new graduates entering the job market that’s effected by AI, but also those that have been established and very experienced in their industry.

88 2 replies
@thewolfofswingthat2035 2025-08-31

what the hell is that guy doing being on tv while sitting in a car...

75 6 replies
@victorrrsimon 2025-08-31

Kid seems smart hope he can grow his brand and live an independent life. Just placed an order!

48 2 replies
@philipholden9065 2025-09-03

I don't know ANY university in the UK that says anything like "Go to university and you'll get a job"

17 2 replies
@KartikMalla 2025-08-31

Calling in from a taxi?

12
@michaelknight3270 2025-08-31

The scam is the student loan. 7-8% interest on a loan to keep you in debt and keep student finance rich! Courses that are £9k a year?!! Madness

11
@Corgicorgi2 2025-10-16

because of the blur effect on the back, the lady speaking first looks like AI generated😅

4

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