Why Age Discrimination Against Young People is More Severe than AI - Is Youth a "Flaw"? The Spread of Youngism in Recruitment and Its Structure

Fortune points out that the essence of job-hunting difficulties for Generation Z is not AI but "youngism" (discrimination against young people). Entry-level positions are effectively shrinking, and conditions such as "2-3 years of experience" are being imposed on positions meant for those without experience. Meanwhile, young people are not protected under the U.S. federal law (ADEA), leaving a gap in the system. On social media, criticisms that "Generation Z is too soft" clash head-on with rebuttals that "the entry points have simply disappeared," spreading the debate globally. Research and surveys substantiate the existence of age bias against young people (youngism), and platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, and X highlight issues such as "rising experience requirements," "screening barriers due to ATS and AI," and "lack of paid internships and skill visibility" as points of contention. This article organizes the structural factors of youngism and offers practical solutions for both companies and candidates, such as skill-based hiring, anonymized and blind selection processes, paid internships, mentorship programs, and portfolio strategies.