We quit our jobs to travel... now it’s a ‘job-apocalypse’

Young professionals returning from their ‘sabbaticals’ are faced with fierce competition, an AI-driven job market and a world where stability feels out of reach. Helen Salter reports

- Helen Salter

Two years ago. Joe Wilson, a 27-year-old engineer from Bristol, quit his mechanical engineering job. After spending 10 months travelling around Latin America - which he’d saved for a year and a half to afford - he’s now hoping to make a long-term move to Mexico City to live with his girlfriend, whom he met while travelling. Unfortunately for Joe, he finds himself bearing the brunt of a job market that’s in deepening trouble: “I’m back home as finding work in Mexico has been difficult; back here I can earn money doing odd jobs and bar work,” he tells me.

“It’s a tricky time, and especially when you’re trying to look for something specific, especially if you’re looking for something remote. I’ve got friends in similar positions that have been looking for months.”

Joe is not alone. Getting a new job in 2026 is not for the fainthearted, with official figures revealing that unemployment is holding at a near five-year high and that wage growth is continuing to slow. Jobs are also becoming harder to come by as companies decide to make operational cutbacks. Instead of training up juniors or taking on new hires, companies are prioritising automation through AI to plug skills gaps.

A survey by the British Standards Institution (BSI) of more than 850 business leaders across seven countries – the UK, the US, France, Germany, Australia, China and Japan – found that four in 10 (41 per cent) of bosses said AI was allowing them to cut the number of employees. With multiple headwinds hitting, we are heading into what some are dubbing the “job-apocalypse”, and it’s hardly surprising that “rejection spreadsheets” are popping up across social media as people reframe knockbacks as progress rather than failure.