This post was written as a reflection of a piece by another author on the realities of finding a job as a new graduate.

The speaker highlights the challenges facing young people as they graduate from academia and seek industry opportunities. They point to the “polycrises” defining our current era, noting how the system breaks down: graduates cannot secure work without experience, yet entry-level workers are rarely given the paid opportunities needed to gain that experience.While the speaker highlights one side of an important coin, the argument lacks a balanced perspective.

The primary reason new graduates struggle to find employment is economic: a business operates at a loss for a significant period with *any* new hire—a reality that doubles when a candidate lacks industry experience.In other words, the speaker identifies the symptoms rather than the disease.

The symptom is the unemployed graduate; the disease is a market reality where companies must demand immediate profitability and experience. Otherwise, they risk losing capital on a candidate who receives free on-the-job training only to leave for another role.

Businesses that shoulder the burden of training new graduates face a negative impact on their balance sheets, losing capital over time and ultimately being outcompeted in the market.

Expanding on this, the critical issue is that the economy penalizes wealth creators—the very people needed to fund social benefits at a time when the ratio of workers to non-workers is becoming unsustainable.

As a result, high performers leave, because staying in this economy penalizes rather than rewards their hard work.It is a difficult situation to reverse; once the precedent is set that voters can simply vote themselves more money, it is incredibly hard to close Pandora’s box.

The country may need to reward risk-taking and entrepreneurship if the desire is to right the ship.