The white-collar job market is frozen—now bartenders and baristas are seeing bigger wage growth than desk workers
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Gen Zers who are lucky enough to get an office job: Don’t expect a raise.
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financial news
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August 21, 2025
07:38 PM
Fortune
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Future of Work·Artificial IntelligenceThe white-collar job market is frozen—now bartenders and baristas are seeing bigger wage growth than desk workersBy Jessica CoacciBy Jessica CoacciSuccess FellowJessica CoacciSuccess FellowJessica Coacci is a reporting fellow at Fortune where she covers success
Prior to joining Fortune, she worked as a ducer at CNN and CNBC.SEE FULL BIO Gen Zers who are lucky enough to get an office job: Don’t expect a raiseVirojt ChangyenchamFor the Gen Zers fortunate enough to start in today’s white-collar job market, don’t anticipate any raises
Since the pandemic, demand for in-person services has pushed up wages in hospitality and health care, outpacing inflation
Meanwhile, white-collar jobs are in a freeze, with AI being one of the culprits
Gen Z graduates are facing an increasingly tough reality after tossing their caps into the air: Not only are their skills being outpaced by ChatGPT, but they aren’t getting raises consistent enough to splurge on anything more than an oat-milk latte
But there’s now a new nail in coffin: Their non-degree friends working as bartenders and baristas are seeing bigger pay raises than they are
Wage growth in leisure and hospitality is outpacing white-collar jobs, flipping the script on where young workers can find earning momentum
A new analysis by Bankrate found hospitality workers’ wages have risen by nearly 30% since 2021, outpacing inflation by more than 4%
Health care workers have similarly outpaced inflation and seen their salaries go up by around 25% in the past four years
However, those working in fessional and services, the finance industry, and education have not seen wage gains that keep up with inflation
Teachers, for example, are pacing at nearly 5% below inflation
Yet, Gen Z isn’t ly to flock to work at the local pub or Starbucks
White-collar jobs such as entry-level gigs still come with larger paychecks—averaging at $19.57 an hour in the U.S
But in the hospitality industry, an average barista makes $16 dollars per hour
Still, since inflation first spiked a few years ago, wages have still been falling behind for white-collar workers
Workers in retail, trade, health care, leisure, hospitality, and food services making less per hour, are watching their paychecks grow more over time
The white-collar freeze Across the white-collar job market, workers—especially fresh-faced graduates Gen Z—are being hit with another tough reality: Workers in white-collar financial activities or fessional and services are encountering a slower pace of hiring
While entry-level workers crave the glam of offices and cold brew on tap, just this week, Meta paused hiring for its new artificial intelligence division, ending a spending spree that saw it acquire a wave of costly AI reers and engineers, and included signing bonuses of $100 million
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy also has said in addition to “efficiency gains,” he expects AI could mean white-collar job cuts
And it’s not just desk workers who are being challenged
Education saw the biggest wage gap relative to inflation, ed by construction
And even if Gen Zers are lucky enough to land that job of their dreams, their motions may not
A recent survey found that motion rates have slowed after surging during the Great Resignation
The overall motion rate was 10.3% in May 2025, down from a peak of 14.6% in May 2022.Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world
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