Someone wise once said that the happiest nation is the one whose history books are the most boring. Well, in that sense, I have some bad news for you—our history books are anything but boring. The world has entered another era of turbulence—or perhaps never emerged from one since 2008.
And this turbulence is reflected not only in worrying news headlines, but also in problems with the economy. And, accordingly, in difficulties with finding a job. For example, this viral thread in the AskReddit community has folks from various industries opening up about their fields heading for rocky shores. And Bored Panda offers you a selection of the most interesting opinions from this thread.
More info: Reddit
#1
Live music. People see big concerts happening and assume live music is doing pretty much as well as it always has. Not true. Small and medium sized venues are struggling hard. Local bands are struggling hard and small to medium sized touring acts are struggling hard.
People don't go and seek out live music like they did 20 years ago. Small live music bars with built in crowds of regulars who would always show up to check out the band of the week used to be common place, today they are very very rare.
Image credits: skesisfunk
#2
The newspaper industry. Everyone assumes it’s just a shift to online, but a lot of local papers are closing down or laying off staff left and right.
Image credits: Inevitable_Beat1725
#3
Journalism. The world's press is now just basically 3 prompt engineers and a premium chatgpt account
Serious concerns ought to be raised about the wellbeing of the 4th estate.
Image credits: JeelyPiece
The original thread currently has 15K upvotes and around 13K various comments, leading a person who doesn’t know much about the modern world to conclude that the world economy is in a state of severe crisis. Tthe list includes literally all industries—from machinery and agriculture to creative professions, which have never previously faced such issues.
#4
Local news. They rarely talk about local issues other than deaths and weather. Zero local coverage in the recent election.
Image credits: Ewggggg
#5
Customer Service - I honestly don't think people realize how bad this is going to be in a generation.
Image credits: AUnicornDonkey
#6
The Nightlife industry. Bars and Clubs in cities are dying, the high cost of living doesn’t help, people put way less money in social activities. On the other hand, there never has been this many DJ’s or people who want to be a DJ.
London, which is a pilliar for Electronic Music lost 37% of its Clubs in the past 4 years.
Edit: Lots of y’all are just getting older and don’t want to admit it.
Image credits: vinnybawbaw
In fact, the advent of artificial intelligence has done for representatives of creative industries what the beginning of the industrial revolution did for artisans about 200 years ago. Back then, in the middle of the 19th century, a movement of Luddites emerged, who, for ideological reasons, deliberately smashed various machines. Today, fortunately, it hasn’t come to that...yet?
But everything will most likely end up about the same as it was then—two centuries ago. New revolutionary technologies will deprive some of the employed of their jobs, but they will also create many more jobs. And well, those whose work involves the use of these new technologies will become even more productive than before.
#7
According to a video I just watched; MLMs. Which is a good thing.
edit: this is the video
Image credits: loritree
#8
The auto industry but, they really did it to themselves. Too much inventory, no one buying the high end trucks because they're too pricey.
I work for a plant that makes parts for the big 3 and we've been barely working 4 days a week, where pre-pandemic we were working 6/7 days.
Image credits: Queenalicious89
#9
I've been a professional video editor for the last 12 years, and have never gone more than a week without a job, I've made stuff for many of the country's biggest brands, and have a solid resume.
For the first time in my life, I've been submitting resumes every single day for the last four months and have not had one interview.
It's tough out there right now, fingers crossed my luck takes a turn!
Image credits: nomercyvideo
"The global economy experiences regular wave fluctuations - in the short, medium and long term. This has always been the case, and the decline has always been replaced by an upswing," says Olga Kopylova, Ph.D., an associate professor of economics at Odessa National Maritime University, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. "However, recent years have indeed been difficult. Very difficult, to be honest."
"First the COVID-19 pandemic, and when the business world began to expect a seemingly inevitable rise in economic activity, a wave of military conflicts began in different regions of the world, which hit economic ties even harder. It is not surprising that along with the accumulated problems, this threatens the risk of a serious worldwide crisis."
#10
Every trade. They really think they can pay people 13-15 dollars an hour when the cheapest one bedroom not in the ghetto is 1200-1400 a month.
2 year degree, 8k worth of tools to get started in mine. The old heads wonder why the new guys quit when they get paid flat rate and you’re hiding their tools to f*ck with them at work.
This next generation wants to be paid a liveable wage, not be abused, and to come to work to work. I’m all for them. Shops charge 200 a flat rate hour for jobs and pay these guys 15-30. It’s abysmal. They can afford to pay people what they are worth. Every business can.
Image credits: PapaHop69
#11
One industry that’s struggling more than people realize is the traditional retail industry.. especially brick-and mortar stores. While e-commerce has been growing for years it’s becoming harder for physical stores to compete even with big names. The shift to online shopping while larger retailers are grappling with overstock shrinking foot traffic and increased labor costs. Even big box stores are now closing locations or shifting to a more digital first model. It’s a quieter crisis but it’s one that’s reshaping the landscape of how we shop.
Image credits: emberandeve
#12
Dry cleaners — wfh and more casual wear, some places may never go back to anywhere near the same volume.
Image credits: doublepinkeye_
"It just so happened that literally one after another, several ‘black swans’ - that is, unpredictable events of a negative nature, using the terminology of the famous economist and publicist Nassim Taleb - overlapped. However, the global economy has a fairly large margin of safety to cope with this. But still, for some time, turbulence will indeed continue to affect our lives," Olga Kopylova concludes.
Well, when viewed in historical context, the current problems are far from the worst the economy has ever faced. Especially if you compare it all, for example, with the times of the Great Depression. On the other hand, a historical analogy is little consolation for someone who has lost their job and cannot find a new one...
#13
The alcohol business; the craft beer bubble burst, wine is failing to capture any young demographic. Younger demographics tend to drink less (for health reasons, cost reasons, and many just prefer [grass] instead). The biggest alcohol distributor in the country just laid off around 3500 people across the country.
Yes, people will always drink, but the worse the economy gets, the more people will trade down to the cheap stuff.
Image credits: dbumba
#14
Since COVID, hospitality. Where I worked used to be packed all weekend, now we have nights on the weekend where we have more staff than customers. We used to never leave before midnight, now we can be cleaning by 10 and having our shifties by 11. I've been working at my place for 5 years now, bar COVID (obviously) this summer was the least busy I've ever seen it.
Image credits: ellerzz
#15
This one's a bit niche, but being a luthier in the US is about to get a whole lot more expensive if those tariffs end up being put in place. Pretty much every kind of wood used on violins guitars and other adjacent instruments is imported, not to mention all the tools you need.
If all goes well, I'll be making and repairing violins professionally after I graduate in spring, which is pretty cool. I picked a bad time to get into the field though, at least there's a high demand for it.
Image credits: Rigistroni
Be that as it may, life today is not easy, and you and I are definitely living in an era of change, and this—as another wise man of antiquity once said—you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemy. On the other hand, forewarned is forearmed, so please read these stories from netizens and maybe if you are more aware of the troubles that await people in different industries, you’ll be better equipped to cope with the approaching adversity.
#16
There are rumors that Broadway is about to collapse. No one can afford the ticket costs anymore.
Image credits: girlinthegoldenboots
#17
Agriculture industry.
Image credits: Blindman630
#18
Trucking. I have been in transportation for 36 years and you would be scared to drive on the same road if you met some of these truck drivers. Up until Covid you would have a bad driver come through once in awhile now it’s rare to have a driver that understands basic instructional. How are they passing driver tests?
I try to stay off the freeways whenever possible.
Image credits: neversaynotosugar
#19
Lineman for powerlines. All the experience is retiring.
It's a huge change right now.
Image credits: Lonely-Ad-6448
#20
Teaching.
Image credits: NoneOfThisMatters_XO
#21
Restaurant Industry is struggling way more than it seems.. sure, some high-end spots or fast food chains are thriving, but independent, family-owned restaurants are still reeling from the pandemic. Rising food costs, staff shortages and tighter margins are making it nearly impossible for many small restaurants to stay open, even if they seem busy on the surface. It’s an industry that always looks lively but hides a lot of financial struggles behind the scenes.
Image credits: starlitsinsxo
#22
Retail pharmacy.
Complete lack of PBM regulation and corporate greed is going to lead to massive closures across the country.
Image credits: tomismybuddy
#23
Film and TV. Barely anything has been shooting so most of us are out of work. We're literally using the motto 'Stay Alive Til 25'.
Image credits: painted_unicorn
#24
Public works - we are all wildly understaffed and any applications we receive are wildly unqualified for the work. When roads, bridges, drainage, snow maintenance, etc fail in the near future, there won't be anyone to help :(.
Image credits: PrettyActuality
#25
Emergency medical services, Paramedics and such.
Image credits: Future-Eggplant2404
