I had a conversation yesterday about the career plans of a young woman of my acquaintance. In her early 20s, she is fortunate to have several successful years of work experience behind her, but believes the time has come to branch out, develop and experiment to make sure that her work experience continues to grow in ways that her current job may not provide. All of that seems sensible, and something that many people will recognise from their own career experience.

What she is going to do next is what differentiates her experience in the current job market from that of many people who might be older than her. Instead of applying for jobs from the position of being employed where she is, she is proactively planning a period of time off work to seek alternative employment. She cannot otherwise work out how the time that is required simply to engage in the task of finding an alternative job would be available, so time-consuming is the process of submitting job applications these days, with the extensive questionnaires that have to be completed and then multiple AI tests that have to be gone through before the chance of even securing an interview with a real-life human being might be secured.

The young woman in question is fortunate. The impression I gained is that she has been able to save enough to take off this period of time between employments. She also has the economic advantage of living at home, and I suspect supportive parents will be assisting this process, at least indirectly.

My point, however, is that in itself this creates the potential for a new form of discrimination within the workplace of a sort that never used to exist. If, to secure new employment, you have to sacrifice income for a period of time, there are only a limited number of people in the fortunate position of being able to do that who can, as a consequence, advance through their careers in a world where it appears increasingly difficult to secure a job of any sort, let alone one that suits your needs and your long-term plans. I am obviously pleased that this person might have that support, and may, as a consequence, find the progression that she desires, and I hope she does. However, what worries me is the systemic implication of what her choices demand of her. In essence, she is being asked to consume her capital to secure the job she wants.

We are used now to young people only getting access to housing if they are supported by what is colloquially called the Bank of Mum and Dad. What her case revealed to me is that the significance of this intergenerational support from parents may be far more important than I had realised in a rapidly changing world.

We have all known that parents have influenced education outcomes, and that this has been true for many past decades. That is indisputable. That the same influence is now seen on the housing ladder is an established fact. But if it is becoming the case that the obstacles to securing work are now so severe that parental support, or significant personal capital that can be consumed in the process of job applications, is now the prerequisite for making progress in your personal development, we will see this discrimination resulting from relative (and I use the word advisedly) privilege become even more significant.

And let's not ignore AI's role in all of this. Many people worry that AI will replace their jobs. Some, at least, have good reason to do so. But if the increasingly labour-intensive and capital-consuming processes AI has imposed on people seeking employment become real obstacles to progress for those trying to secure work that lets them fulfil their potential, then the threat from AI is indirectly much greater than I thought.

It now seems neoliberal capitalism is using its power to prevent progress for all but those with the financial capital required to achieve career progression, in ways nepotism and contact networks once did. Those forms of human capital were always obstructions to progress for some, but now it seems as though a person's ability to consume financial capital to appease the foibles of the neoliberal capitalist system is becoming another prerequisite for success in the quite reasonable desire for career progression.

This is toxic, deeply dangerous to human well-being, damaging to the economy, and costly to us all, as those with ability but without access to capital will inevitably be lost in this process. In other words, it is another deliberate form of inequality designed to reinforce divisions in our society.

We should be worried.

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