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From investment bank to gym desk: NYC graduate struggles in brutal job market
Natalie Lui, a finance and marketing graduate, said she had applied to nearly 300 full-time positions without success.
A young woman in New York City has highlighted the harsh realities of the city’s job market after revealing that she went from working as an IT analyst at an investment bank to taking up a part-time job at a gym front desk.
Natalie Lui, a finance and marketing graduate, said she had applied to nearly 300 full-time positions without success. Her story, documented in a recent New York Times article, encapsulates the struggles of millions of young Americans in a bleak job market.
From tech job to gym worker
Young adults in New York City are increasingly struggling to find stable jobs as entry-level opportunities shrink and living costs continue to climb. The NYT report highlighted how even college graduates are being pushed into low-paying part-time work.
New York has become especially difficult for young people because rents are rising quickly, student loan debt is high, and entry-level jobs have reduced sharply in recent years, partly due to the AI boom.
Among those struggling to make it in the Big Apple is 26-year-old Natalie Lui. According to the piece, Lui went from working as an IT analyst at an investment bank to manning the front desk at a gym.
By her own estimate, she has applied to approximately 300 positions — to no avail.
‘Help a girl out’
Lui eventually turned to TikTok to ask strangers for help. “Please comment literally ANY and most effective ways to get a job in NYC. PLS HELP A GIRL OUT,” she said in her TikTok appeal.
“It took a lot out of me to even post that online,” Lui confessed. She is now worried about affording health coverage after she is removed from her family plan. “But it’s come to that.”
(Also read: Bengaluru-based American techie says he never would've made it as a student in India: 'Look at the competition')
In the US, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires dependent children to be covered until age of 26. Lui is among thousands of young graduates in a similar position, who are dealing with expensive healthcare, skyrocketing costs and shrinking salaries in the world’s most expensive city.
Their angst was perfectly summed up by comedian Josh Martier, who quipped during a recent stand-up set: “I left my job this year, and I moved to New York cause I wanted to try unemployment on the most difficult level. Let me tell you, that city has not disappointed.”
