New grad employment is falling as AI accelerates.† We are a nonprofit dedicated to equipping young workers in America with the skills, mentorship, and community to navigate the shift at dearCC.org (opens in a new tab).
New Work Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit · EIN 42-1999114
“The future isn't automatic. We can still choose a better ending.”
Clara Shih, Founder, New Work Foundation
“The AI Shock and Path Forward,” February 2026
As AI handles work that junior staff used to learn on, it's creating a generation of “never-hired” professionals. These aren't just lost jobs. They're lost career pathways. The long-term damage may not be visible for years: depressed lifetime earnings, delayed household formation, diminished tax contributions compounding into structural economic drag.
The only way to keep up with AI is to use AI. We use AI to bring people together and apply an AI-native approach to accelerate impact. We run rapid experiments across initiatives that span today's entry-level freeze and longer-term AGI economy.
Help grads understand market shifts through authentic storytelling on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Help jobseekers discover adjacent roles and target jobs that are growing instead of guessing.
Provide a personalized plan for each jobseeker, anchored by a portfolio project building AI agents.
Support grads with a crew of peers and a mentor to bring structure and weekly accountability.
“I did everything I was supposed to. Strong grades, internships, campus leadership. Hundreds of applications and AI bot interviews later, it is demoralizing.”
Kate LeafstrandMichigan ’26
Everything we build is free and funded by donors.
Fund the next crewClara Shih launches New Work Foundation at the TIME100 Summit in New York.
Everything we build is 100% free for early-career job seekers, funded directly by donors like you. Our leadership team takes $0 salary.
New Work Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 42-1999114. Your gift is tax deductible.
Choose your gift on our secure Stripe Checkout page.
Continue to paymentWe partner with colleges and universities, state and local governments, employers, foundations, other nonprofits and more to support one another's efforts and scale impact.
Things are moving fast. We'll share updates on our programs, thought leadership, and the state of entry-level hiring.
Newsletter signup is not yet available.
† Brynjolfsson, Chandar and Chen, Stanford Digital Economy Lab, 2025. The research isolates AI as the cause, controlling for ZIRP and Covid.