Jerome Powell says Gen Z without tech skills are getting crushed in the 'low-hire, low-fire' job market-and colleges are failing them | Fortune

""We all see the data-it's just gotten tough for people entering the labor force to be hired," Powell said."

""If you come out of school with technological skills, you'll be fine - "great," even.""

""If you don't have those skills, though, you're increasingly left with less attractive employment options," Powell said."

""I'm struck by how the U.S. educational attainment kind of plateaued," Powell said."

Young workers lacking technology skills face dwindling employment prospects as employers pause hiring amid tariffs, immigration policy shifts, and economic uncertainty. Employers are maintaining current staff while refraining from expanding payrolls, creating a 'low-hire, low-fire' labor market. Technological change has historically raised productivity and incomes when paired with rising educational attainment. U.S. educational attainment plateaued starting in the 1970s even as the digital economy accelerated, reducing broad ability to adapt to new technology. Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz show that inequality widens when schooling fails to keep pace with innovation.

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