A surprising trend is emerging in the job market that is catching young workers off guard.
New research from the Stanford Digital Economy Lab is shining a light on how the rapid advance of artificial intelligence is having a real impact on career opportunities for those just starting out. Since late 2022, when generative AI tools began to take off, employment for young professionals aged 22 to 25 has dropped significantly in fields most open to automation, including software development and customer support.
This finding is backed up by millions of employee records from payroll giant ADP, creating one of the most thorough real world examinations of AI’s effect on the workforce. While jobs overall are on the rise, the youngest employees in technology, marketing, and customer service are seeing fewer openings and more competition, even after considering other potential explanations like remote work trends or shifts in education patterns.
Older Workers and AI: A Different Story
While young job seekers are struggling, their older counterparts seem to be doing just fine. Workers over 30 in these same high-tech industries have actually seen their employment rates climb by up to twelve percent since 2022. The researchers suggest that this might be because experience and workplace connections are proving hard for AI to duplicate, or because these workers have more say over who stays on the job.
It’s also notable that manual roles, such as healthcare assistants, building maintenance, and cab drivers, have not experienced the same job squeeze. In some of these industries, hiring is actually increasing. “It was really striking to see such a sharp effect for certain categories and not others,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, one of the study’s authors.
One crucial insight from the report is that not all uses of AI signal trouble for workers. In jobs where AI is brought in to assist and improve what people do — for example, checking work for mistakes or helping people learn new skills — employment is stable. The danger seems highest where entire tasks are simply handed off to AI systems.
Bharat Chandar, who co-authored the study, made it clear that while they cannot say for certain that AI is the root cause of rising unemployment for young workers, the numbers suggest a connection. “Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that AI is having this effect [on the labor market], especially for entry-level workers,” Chandar said.
Meanwhile, outside the research sphere, political strategists and tech industry leaders are taking note. After successful lobbying in Congress for crypto legislation, top names from that movement are now building large scale political action groups aiming to steer incoming AI laws in their favor.
Josh Vlasto, a leading figure in the effort, confirmed that his group, Leading the Future, will promote candidates who back AI-friendly policies and fight against attempts to slow innovation. With one hundred million dollars in early funding, the stakes for shaping the future of AI regulation are higher than ever.
All of this comes as the public grapples with the broader consequences of machine intelligence, from inaccurate automated crime alerts to the risk of sensitive information leaks. AI is rewriting not just job descriptions but the entire rulebook for work, politics, and public safety.
