Gen Z Grads Are Turning to This Field for a Steady Paycheck

At a time when workers everywhere are feeling uneasy about the future of their jobs, and experts keep warning that white-collar careers could be the next casualty of AI, one unlikely field is coming out on top. 

Accounting, often dismissed as dull and number-heavy, has spent years struggling to attract young talent. The profession’s aging workforce hasn’t helped, and between 2019 and 2022, more than 300,000 accountants left the field to move into other sectors, like finance and technology. That exodus forced firms to scramble to fill openings. 

Now, the story is starting to change. 

Gen Z is starting to take notice of accounting. Fortune recently reported that accounting is making a quiet comeback, with young workers gravitating towards a field that promises stability, steady demand and starting pay of around $75,000. 

The bigger picture in enrollment data makes the accounting rebound even clearer. In 2025, a total of 313,397 students enrolled in college accounting programs — up from 293,759 the year before, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, an educational research firm.

Accounting students have exceptional job placement rates

One student, Jack Blazevich, a 24-year-old who graduated from the University of Iowa in late 2024 with a degree in accounting, immediately found a job as an assurance associate at PwC, making nearly six figures. 

“I have not talked to another accounting person who has a degree in accounting who cannot find a job,” Blazevich told Fortune.

At the University of Iowa, 95% of the class of 2025’s accounting graduates found a job or continued their education, with a median salary of $75,000, per Fortune. That’s significantly higher than the 86% of bachelor’s degree graduates overall who were employed or enrolled in further education within six months of graduation, according to college research firm NACE.   

Another Gen Z accounting major, Austin Price, graduated from Brigham Young University last spring. Price told Fortune that he and his accounting classmates “had the luxury of choosing from multiple offers rather than worrying about whether we’d land a job at all.” Price now works in technology risk assurance at EY. 

AI is shaking up accounting

AI, often cast as a threat to white-collar jobs, is changing accounting in ways that could make the field more appealing. According to a Stanford Graduate School of Business report, AI is taking over mundane tasks like data entry, transaction matching and sorting through financial records, giving early-career professionals more time to focus on client relationships and analysis. 

The report found that accountants using AI tools support more clients each week and close the books about 7.5 days faster than those relying on traditional methods. They also spend 8.5% less time on administrative work.

Still, AI could potentially replace accountants. A study released last month from AI startup Anthropic suggests AI could take on more than 90% of the work typically done in math and business jobs — meaning fields like accounting, which blend the two, are right in the crosshairs. 

While AI has raised fears about white-collar job losses in fields like accounting, it’s fueling a revival in blue-collar work. A 2025 report from research firm Validated Insights projects that U.S. trade school enrollments will grow 6.6% per year — far faster than the 0.8% growth rate for overall higher education. At the same time, a 2025 FlexJobs poll of more than 3,000 professionals found that 62% would consider taking a blue-collar job with better pay and stability over their current role. 

At a time when workers everywhere are feeling uneasy about the future of their jobs, and experts keep warning that white-collar careers could be the next casualty of AI, one unlikely field is coming out on top. 

Accounting, often dismissed as dull and number-heavy, has spent years struggling to attract young talent. The profession’s aging workforce hasn’t helped, and between 2019 and 2022, more than 300,000 accountants left the field to move into other sectors, like finance and technology. That exodus forced firms to scramble to fill openings. 

Now, the story is starting to change.