The job market makes me feel hopeless

I made a mistake.

During my last year at Gymnasium, I made what I consider a huge mistake. As university registration was coming to an end in April, I was pressured by the people around me to make a decision soon. Even though I had no idea what I wanted to pursue, I decided a day before the registration deadline that I was going to study Mechanical Engineering at ETH after browsing their pamphlet and choosing a major I found feasible among all the majors ETH offered, as taking a gap year was not an option financially. A bonus was that it was not far from my Kanton, as moving wasn’t feasible.

Once the Gymnasium final exams were done and the holidays started, I began to regret my choice, but the registration deadline had passed and I had no idea which major I would have wanted to switch to. I was back at ground zero.

Having already registered at the university and told people my major, I thought to myself “the pay isn’t bad, and being an engineer is something the people close to me would be proud of.” I used the stereotype that engineers always find jobs as a way to motivate myself to continue, ignoring the impending doom that I had made a huge mistake and convincing myself that this was the right choice.

The plan was simple: finish my bachelor, get a part-time job, and become financially independent while doing my master’s. However, after doing some research later on, I realized that the hope I clung to be able to get a stable job with an easy entry, was all but a farce. The job market had impacted everyone, including mechanical engineers.

Perhaps in three years from now, the market will be a whole lot better. Though in my first year, more than 700 students are studying this major, some of whom had known pretty early on that this was the path for them, choosing Physics and Math as their Schwerpunktfach and Ergänzungsfach, while I, clueless, chose Arts and Spanish. Others had even already acquired skills in CAD and robotics. The only chance I had to beat them was grades, but after the exams, I don’t think I can even do that.

Hence, after grinding, studying, and pulling through the first semester at ETH Zürich, I am even more sure that this career path is not for me. I never enjoyed it and don’t think I ever will in the long run.

But I am stuck. I may only have one more chance to change majors, and I don’t want to make another mistake. My choices now are Economics and Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen. Unlike my previous major choice, which I made on a whim, these options are something I have had in mind for a while, and throughout my four years at Kanti, I dabbled in subjects related to these majors. My grades were 5.7 in economics and marketing, while math was a 4.5 and physics a 5. I also acquired a small certificate in Abacus. So if anything, this path seems like the right choice, I just wish I had seen it earlier.

Now, between the two, I want to choose a career path that gives me a higher chance of having a part-time job in my second year of my bachelor and afterward gaining experience. To finance this, I want to quit university and try to find a full-time job as a cashier (which is a whole fight in itself, as I have been looking for a part-time job this month and have only been getting rejected, even though I have some experience in that field, having worked from a very young age 20-40% to financially support myself through various jobs. Hopefully, my endeavors go better when looking for a full-time job over the next couple of months).

In the end, before fully jumping the wagon, I wanted to ask if anyone in either field (Economics or Business Administration) could share how the job market is. I did some light research, and it seems that marketing, which would have been my first choice, appears to be a dying field, and the job market isn’t looking great there either. I’m not so sure about economics, hence looking for some guidance.

Apologies for the long post, and any advice or help would be appreciated. Wish you all a wonderful day.