Are Gen X in a job crisis?

Many people who started working in various creative fields during the Nineties – including publishing, design, music, and film – often find themselves doing something else today, reports the New York Times in a widely discussed article titled “The Collapse of Generation X Careers”. Most creative industries, in fact, have either shrunk or radically transformed in recent years, excluding many professionals who were once central. “Every day I talk to people whose careers are, in a sense, over,” said Chris Wilcha, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and TV director in his early fifties. And many professionals between the ages of 45 and 55, who once aspired to build solid careers based on creativity, shared similar stories with the New York Times. More than a dozen Generation X individuals interviewed by the American newspaper said they now feel excluded, both economically and culturally, from the industries for which they were trained. “My colleagues, my friends, and I continue to grapple with the unforeseen obsolescence of the career paths we chose in our twenties,” Wilcha explained. When digital technologies began to emerge in the creative fields dominated by Generation X, they didn’t seem like a threat, the NYT explains. However, as many of these workers reached the peak of their careers, much of their skill set became outdated. The point is that a large portion of Generation X built their careers within a specific professional context, only to find themselves, halfway through, in a labor market radically upended by technology.

Karen McKinley, a manager in the advertising sector, told the New York Times she has watched with bitterness as many talented colleagues have been pushed out, victims of the decline of traditional advertising campaigns, increasingly replaced by faster and cheaper content designed almost exclusively for social media distribution. “Twenty years ago, there were proper photo shoots. Today, companies rely on influencers with no advertising experience whatsoever,” McKinley noted. The creative sector, thanks to technological developments, has indeed become much more accessible, especially to young people. The New York Times points out that in the past, top photographers could earn tens of thousands of dollars per shot, whereas today, in some cases, satisfactory results can be achieved by hiring lesser-known – and therefore cheaper – professionals. Greg Paull, an American marketing consultant, summarizes the phenomenon this way: “That commercial which used to take six months to produce, now becomes a TikTok video developed in six days.” In this context, the growing use of artificial intelligence risks – according to some – significantly downsizing the role of many professionals in the sector, including copywriters, photographers, and designers. According to research firm Forrester, by 2030, U.S. advertising agencies could lose 32,000 jobs — 7.5% of the workforce — precisely due to the increasing adoption of AI.

In this scenario, an existential question is becoming increasingly pressing among Generation X: does it still make sense to be so stressed about trying to do the work one loves, accepting economic sacrifices, and choosing to live in more affordable places? Or has the time come – with retirement on the horizon – to opt for a safer job that is far from one's passions? The choice is not only practical but deeply tied to identity. After decades invested in building a career, acquiring skills, and giving meaning to their work, many Generation X professionals find themselves having to redefine the very concept of “success,” facing the need to survive in a system that seems to reward extreme flexibility and innovation at any cost. For some, the answer lies in lowering their material expectations and embracing more essential lifestyles, rediscovering creative freedom in less competitive environments. For others, resignation prevails: a stable job, even if alienating, becomes the last anchor of security in a constantly changing world. In both cases, what emerges from the New York Times article is a generation questioning the meaning of work in middle age and the legacy – not only economic but also cultural – they wish to leave behind.