Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, traditional avenues for economic prosperity started to narrow, raising concerns about career prospects for younger generations of workers. The capitalists offered a solution: young people simply needed to strive for new types of white-collar jobs in the emerging “information sector.”

Since then, several generations of Americans have been told that as long as you earn a college degree, you can land a white-collar job and have the same kind of job security as your parents or grandparents.

“Learn to code!” the capitalists advised. Factory workers had once edged out farmers. Now, “knowledge workers” would replace factory workers—and the “dynamic” American economy would continue to grow and innovate, with new industries emerging and more complex jobs opening up into eternity.

For several decades, those who were able to go to college did see some success, as white-collar sectors of the US economy continued to grow. This served to prolong illusions in the “American dream.” But the limits of this process have been reached. A slowing economy paired with the “once-in-a-generation” rise of Artificial Intelligence has made white-collar job security more precarious than ever.

The pages of the bourgeois press are filled with stories about college-educated workers who have applied to hundreds—or even thousands—of jobs to no avail. The trend is particularly stark in the tech sector, which until recently was considered a rock-solid route to financial stability. Hundreds of thousands of young people did learn to code—but demand for them has now plummeted.

In Marx’s time, the power loom replaced the hand loom in the English textile industry, leading to mass unemployment for a generation of workers. Today, capitalism is increasingly pushing college graduates into low-wage jobs or long-term unemployment. Meanwhile, workers who manage to land white-collar jobs often find them more grueling than ever, as companies slash workforces and load increasing responsibilities onto those who remain.

The unemployment rate for 20–24 year olds is already 7.9%, with recent college graduates facing a historically difficult job market. Young workers are enraged. Despite doing everything “right,” they are in for a lifetime of downward mobility and declining living standards.