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25 Industries Facing Really Big Troubles Nowadays, According To Members Of This Online Community
Someone wise once said that the happiest nation is the one whose history books are the most boring. Well, in that sense, I have some bad news for you—our history books are anything but boring. The world has entered another era of turbulence—or perhaps never emerged from one since 2008.
And this turbulence is reflected not only in worrying news headlines, but also in problems with the economy. And, accordingly, in difficulties with finding a job. For example, this viral thread in the AskReddit community has folks from various industries opening up about their fields heading for rocky shores. And Bored Panda offers you a selection of the most interesting opinions from this thread.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Journalism. The world's press is now just basically 3 prompt engineers and a premium chatgpt account
Serious concerns ought to be raised about the wellbeing of the 4th estate.
ginshun 1 week ago
"journalists" killed themselves, and have nobody to blame for the decline of their industry than themselves. People long for actual objective journalism, it just doesn't exist anymore. That's not the consumer's fault, it's the so called journalists who are actually just partisan hacks in journalists clothes.
#2
Live music. People see big concerts happening and assume live music is doing pretty much as well as it always has. Not true. Small and medium sized venues are struggling hard. Local bands are struggling hard and small to medium sized touring acts are struggling hard.
People don't go and seek out live music like they did 20 years ago. Small live music bars with built in crowds of regulars who would always show up to check out the band of the week used to be common place, today they are very very rare.
#3
Local news. They rarely talk about local issues other than deaths and weather. Zero local coverage in the recent election.
Tucker Cahooter 1 week ago
Our "local" news is done elsewhere in the country. Painfully obvious when they mispronounce the suburb names.
The original thread currently has 15K upvotes and around 13K various comments, leading a person who doesn’t know much about the modern world to conclude that the world economy is in a state of severe crisis. Tthe list includes literally all industries—from machinery and agriculture to creative professions, which have never previously faced such issues.
#4
The newspaper industry. Everyone assumes it’s just a shift to online, but a lot of local papers are closing down or laying off staff left and right.
#5
Customer Service - I honestly don't think people realize how bad this is going to be in a generation.
Jrog 1 week ago (edited)
It is already awful. If you get past the robotic answering systems, you may finally be connected to a random guy from India, Albania or Egypt that has no connection with the company you are trying to call, has ZERO power to help you, and whose only job is to try to get you drop the issue. Amazon is slightly better in this since the contractors have some discretionary power in refunds and returns, so sometimes they can help, but they are also worsening a lot since a few years. Nowadays even B2B companies are moving to the same approach to cut costs.
#6
According to a video I just watched; MLMs. Which is a good thing.
edit: this is the video
Robert Beveridge 1 week ago
No industry (with the possible exception of fashion) deserves it more.
In fact, the advent of artificial intelligence has done for representatives of creative industries what the beginning of the industrial revolution did for artisans about 200 years ago. Back then, in the middle of the 19th century, a movement of Luddites emerged, who, for ideological reasons, deliberately smashed various machines. Today, fortunately, it hasn’t come to that...yet?
But everything will most likely end up about the same as it was then—two centuries ago. New revolutionary technologies will deprive some of the employed of their jobs, but they will also create many more jobs. And well, those whose work involves the use of these new technologies will become even more productive than before.
#7
Every trade. They really think they can pay people 13-15 dollars an hour when the cheapest one bedroom not in the ghetto is 1200-1400 a month.
2 year degree, 8k worth of tools to get started in mine. The old heads wonder why the new guys quit when they get paid flat rate and you’re hiding their tools to f*ck with them at work.
This next generation wants to be paid a liveable wage, not be abused, and to come to work to work. I’m all for them. Shops charge 200 a flat rate hour for jobs and pay these guys 15-30. It’s abysmal. They can afford to pay people what they are worth. Every business can.
Tucker Cahooter 1 week ago
Not true in Australia. Tradies are well paid and always have heaps of work due to all the natural disasters requiring rebuilding, and there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople.
#8
One industry that’s struggling more than people realize is the traditional retail industry.. especially brick-and mortar stores. While e-commerce has been growing for years it’s becoming harder for physical stores to compete even with big names. The shift to online shopping while larger retailers are grappling with overstock shrinking foot traffic and increased labor costs. Even big box stores are now closing locations or shifting to a more digital first model. It’s a quieter crisis but it’s one that’s reshaping the landscape of how we shop.
Sven Horlemann 1 week ago
I used to be in the city twice a week. No I am there twice per year. No exageration.
#9
The Nightlife industry. Bars and Clubs in cities are dying, the high cost of living doesn’t help, people put way less money in social activities. On the other hand, there never has been this many DJ’s or people who want to be a DJ.
London, which is a pilliar for Electronic Music lost 37% of its Clubs in the past 4 years.
Edit: Lots of y’all are just getting older and don’t want to admit it.
"The global economy experiences regular wave fluctuations - in the short, medium and long term. This has always been the case, and the decline has always been replaced by an upswing," says Olga Kopylova, Ph.D., an associate professor of economics at Odessa National Maritime University, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. "However, recent years have indeed been difficult. Very difficult, to be honest."
"First the COVID-19 pandemic, and when the business world began to expect a seemingly inevitable rise in economic activity, a wave of military conflicts began in different regions of the world, which hit economic ties even harder. It is not surprising that along with the accumulated problems, this threatens the risk of a serious worldwide crisis."
#10
The auto industry but, they really did it to themselves. Too much inventory, no one buying the high end trucks because they're too pricey.
I work for a plant that makes parts for the big 3 and we've been barely working 4 days a week, where pre-pandemic we were working 6/7 days.
Kelly Scott 1 week ago
What I want: a car that starts with a key. Window wells. No computer, no GPS, nothing that needs a subscription. Roll down windows. A radio and a CD player. Reliable parts that last longer than a year. Good gas mileage. An affordable price. What I see from the automakers: More bells and whistles than a circus cart. Computers with huge touch screens. Cars that spy on where I go and how fast I get there. Demands for money for things I'll never use (looking at you, heated seats). Cars that break down regularly every year. Headlights that I can't turn off in the daytime. Headlights that blind everyone else. Cars that need another computer to repair them. Cars that are too large. Cars with TV screens in back. Cars that cost so much I'd have to take a 30-year mortgage out on them. And then you have the unmitigated gall to ask why I'm not buying one?
#11
The alcohol business; the craft beer bubble burst, wine is failing to capture any young demographic. Younger demographics tend to drink less (for health reasons, cost reasons, and many just prefer [grass] instead). The biggest alcohol distributor in the country just laid off around 3500 people across the country.
Yes, people will always drink, but the worse the economy gets, the more people will trade down to the cheap stuff.
Huddo's sister 1 week ago
We have some fantastic local wine, beer and spirit makers where I live. I always buy local when I can. Mind you, I've never been a massive drinker, so don't spend a huge amount on them.
#12
Dry cleaners — wfh and more casual wear, some places may never go back to anywhere near the same volume.
"It just so happened that literally one after another, several ‘black swans’ - that is, unpredictable events of a negative nature, using the terminology of the famous economist and publicist Nassim Taleb - overlapped. However, the global economy has a fairly large margin of safety to cope with this. But still, for some time, turbulence will indeed continue to affect our lives," Olga Kopylova concludes.
Well, when viewed in historical context, the current problems are far from the worst the economy has ever faced. Especially if you compare it all, for example, with the times of the Great Depression. On the other hand, a historical analogy is little consolation for someone who has lost their job and cannot find a new one...
#13
I've been a professional video editor for the last 12 years, and have never gone more than a week without a job, I've made stuff for many of the country's biggest brands, and have a solid resume.
For the first time in my life, I've been submitting resumes every single day for the last four months and have not had one interview.
It's tough out there right now, fingers crossed my luck takes a turn!
#14
Trucking. I have been in transportation for 36 years and you would be scared to drive on the same road if you met some of these truck drivers. Up until Covid you would have a bad driver come through once in awhile now it’s rare to have a driver that understands basic instructional. How are they passing driver tests?
I try to stay off the freeways whenever possible.
#15
Since COVID, hospitality. Where I worked used to be packed all weekend, now we have nights on the weekend where we have more staff than customers. We used to never leave before midnight, now we can be cleaning by 10 and having our shifties by 11. I've been working at my place for 5 years now, bar COVID (obviously) this summer was the least busy I've ever seen it.
Be that as it may, life today is not easy, and you and I are definitely living in an era of change, and this—as another wise man of antiquity once said—you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemy. On the other hand, forewarned is forearmed, so please read these stories from netizens and maybe if you are more aware of the troubles that await people in different industries, you’ll be better equipped to cope with the approaching adversity.
#16
This one's a bit niche, but being a luthier in the US is about to get a whole lot more expensive if those tariffs end up being put in place. Pretty much every kind of wood used on violins guitars and other adjacent instruments is imported, not to mention all the tools you need.
If all goes well, I'll be making and repairing violins professionally after I graduate in spring, which is pretty cool. I picked a bad time to get into the field though, at least there's a high demand for it.
#17
There are rumors that Broadway is about to collapse. No one can afford the ticket costs anymore.
#18
Public works - we are all wildly understaffed and any applications we receive are wildly unqualified for the work. When roads, bridges, drainage, snow maintenance, etc fail in the near future, there won't be anyone to help :(.
#20
Teaching.
Robert Beveridge 1 week ago
Once we have neuralink, it'll all be personalized. And full of ads, but we'll put that part aside. After all, our new south African overlord has our best interests at heart, right? RIGHT?
#21
Restaurant Industry is struggling way more than it seems.. sure, some high-end spots or fast food chains are thriving, but independent, family-owned restaurants are still reeling from the pandemic. Rising food costs, staff shortages and tighter margins are making it nearly impossible for many small restaurants to stay open, even if they seem busy on the surface. It’s an industry that always looks lively but hides a lot of financial struggles behind the scenes.
Jrog 1 week ago
Since 2020 restaurant food prices on average have continued to outpace grocery prices by a factor of 1.5-2x, up to 4x in 2024 when restaurant prices increased on average 4,1%, while cost of groceries increased barely 1,1%. On average, restaurants since 2000 increased their prices 3.3%, against an inflation average of 2.6%.
#22
Retail pharmacy.
Complete lack of PBM regulation and corporate greed is going to lead to massive closures across the country.
Riley Quinn 1 week ago
AP News 4-hours ago: The study found that more than 29% of the nearly 89,000 retail U.S. pharmacies that operated between 2010 and 2020 had closed by 2021. That amounts to more than 26,000 stores.
#23
Lineman for powerlines. All the experience is retiring.
It's a huge change right now.
#24
Film and TV. Barely anything has been shooting so most of us are out of work. We're literally using the motto 'Stay Alive Til 25'.
#25
Emergency medical services, Paramedics and such.
ginshun 1 week ago
Why would anybody think that these jobs are going to stop being required. Now, that nobody wants to work them for what they make - that I get. There will have to be a shift in pay and places are going to have to start paying more. Its not like these jobs are going away though.
What do you think ?
ginshun 1 week ago
A lot of these people have a really weird idea as to what a "struggling industry" is.
Justbecause 1 week ago
Im in Australia and farming is becoming very corporate. The banks wont give loans for land to new farmers and at 1mil per 100ac no one can save up to by a farm especially when you need around 500ac to be a full time farmer.
ginshun 1 week ago
A lot of these people have a really weird idea as to what a "struggling industry" is.
Justbecause 1 week ago
Im in Australia and farming is becoming very corporate. The banks wont give loans for land to new farmers and at 1mil per 100ac no one can save up to by a farm especially when you need around 500ac to be a full time farmer.
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