In a shrinking workforce some soon-to-be graduates are wondering what the future holds for them. Some are choosing to go it alone.

Unemployment is now 4.6%, up from 3.6% in June last year, and it's the youth who are feeling it the most. Almost half of that increase was young people. The number of unemployed people between the ages of 15 and 24 rose by 14,400.

Now young people are choosing a plan B. Some are heading overseas, some are upskilling, and others are looking at a different path - one where they are their own CEO.

Economic circumstances may have served to inspire a generation of hustlers who have come of age in an ever-connected social media world.

While the jury is out on whether artificial intelligence will help or hinder their careers, young people are being told to embrace it, learn it, or find a job that won’t be replaced by it.

“I think you do have to be a lot more pragmatic about it, like you can't sit around and wait for the phone to ring.”

That’s Joshua Nimmo, a third-year architecture student at AUT, is facing a tight job market as he prepares to join the workforce. Like his peers, he’s investigating different opportunities like project management, construction management or interiors.

While Nimmo started his degree with the plan of pursuing architecture immediately afterwards, he isn’t disheartened.

“There's not that much out there in terms of grad roles and internships for architects [but] plans change,” he says. “I mean yeah, it's tough, but like, at the end of the day, like, you're gonna get a job at some point.”

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