“Forget Python, Study Plato”: On The Futility of Only Chasing Labour Market Demands
- Nitin Deckha
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
May 19, 2026
In 2026, I am thinking, writing, crafting, and consulting with a purpose in mind: that of the educator. To me, the educator spans the wide range of work that I do, both formally and informally, in and outside of postsecondary institutions, workplaces, conferences, professional development sessions, and on/through social media.
A few days ago, a post regarding with the catchy title, “Forget Python, Study Plato” appeared on my various social media feeds. It involved analysis by The Economist on the percentage of change of employment from 2022-2024 of recent US university graduates in full-time employment six months after graduation.
Interestingly, fields that have higher exposure to AI saw the sharpest declines, including Information Sciences, Computer Science, and Finance. Decreases were also observed for various forms of Engineering, with Space Engineering face the largest drop and Civil Engineering being the most AI-resilient.
However, as the pithy title suggests, Philosophy, which notably has fewer recent graduates, and other low AI-exposure fields, have seen positive job growth.
To me, the post speaks to the increasing futility of chasing labour market demands as the key end product of higher education, particularly if it is not more directly connected to broader skills and competence development.
In a recent May 12 episode of the CBC Radio program The Current, host Matt Galloway speaks to a recruiter about the sticky unemployment rate in Canada, with youth unemployment firmly in the double digits. The recruiter spoke of a variety of skills that are transferable, from adaptability to leadership, as being increasingly desirable by employers.
Higher education administrators, government accreditation bodies, curriculum mappers and designers, and others, need to increasingly embed transferrable skill development across courses, programs, learning objectives, and importantly for instructors, assessments. Indeed, it is assessments which are often the oversight and yet they are key student-facing objects which allow for the practice and formation of these transferable skills.
Moreover, the larger conversation, from schools to parents to social media forums need to recalibrate the larger purpose of any credential, higher education or not: its “exchange value” in a highly disjointed and disrupted labour market is no longer a guarantee for full-time employment and a secure footing of the first rung of the occupational ladder.
Indeed, this is precisely being chopped off by companies seized with enabling AI across their enterprises.
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