How AI Is Reshaping Entry-Level Jobs — 4 Shift's You Can't Ignore

AI Story of the Week

Stanford’s new study offers the clearest evidence yet that AI is reshaping entry-level jobs. Since late 2022, employment for 22–25-year-olds in AI-exposed fields like software development and customer service has declined by 13–20%. More experienced workers in those same jobs? Unchanged — or even growing.

It’s the first large-scale analysis of millions of payroll records, and it confirms what many suspected: AI is starting to shift the bottom of the career ladder.

Key Insights

1. Entry-Level Roles Are Compressing → The decline is concentrated among 22–25-year-olds in AI-exposed roles. Senior colleagues are unaffected.

   
   

2. Automation vs. Augmentation → Jobs where AI replaces work (customer support, accounting, coding) are shrinking at the entry level. Jobs where AI augments (healthcare, strategy) are expanding.

   
   

3. Hiring Freezes, Not Wage Cuts → The disruption shows up in fewer openings, not lower salaries.

   
   

4. Pipelines at Risk → Without junior hires, companies lose the traditional pathway to grow new talent.

Why It Matters & How to Apply It

The first rung of the ladder isn’t gone — but it is higher. That has real consequences for both companies and professionals:

• For individuals → Don’t fight to hold on to repetitive work. Instead, develop skills where AI augments you: problem framing, decision-making, leadership, and human judgment.

  
  

• For organizations → When you save time and money with AI, reinvest it. Use the efficiency gains to fund new projects, create mentorship tracks, or launch initiatives that expand opportunities instead of shrinking them.

AI is compressing the entry level when used purely for automation. But when used for augmentation, it expands the pie — enabling more meaningful roles, faster growth, and long-term resilience.