Employment for software developers aged 22 to 25 is down nearly 20% from its late-2022 peak, according to Stanford researchers working with payroll records, while employment for older developers grew. And AI has become the leading reason employers give for announced U.S. job cuts: about 22% of all cuts this year through August, up from 5% in 2025 (Challenger, Gray & Christmas).
These aren't abstract numbers. They represent the first rung of the career ladder: the junior analyst positions, the associate roles, the entry-level coordinator jobs that used to be how graduates broke into industries.
Which jobs are disappearing
The pattern is consistent across sectors. AI is eliminating roles defined by information processing, routine analysis, and first-draft content creation.
In finance, junior analysts who once spent long nights building models and formatting pitch decks are being supplemented, and in some cases replaced, by AI tools that produce comparable work in minutes.
In tech, the traditional path from coding bootcamp to junior developer to senior engineer is compressing. At the 15 largest tech companies, hiring of new graduates fell 25% from 2023 to 2024, and new graduates are now about 7% of their hires (SignalFire).
In media, entry-level content roles (copywriting, social media management, basic reporting) are being absorbed by generative AI. The editorial assistants and junior copywriters who used to be the pipeline into publishing, advertising, and media are finding fewer positions available.
The paradox: displacement and opportunity
Here's what most coverage of AI job displacement misses: the same technology eliminating entry-level roles is creating entirely new career categories.
AI engineers, AI consultants and strategists, and AI and machine learning researchers are three of the five fastest-growing jobs in the U.S., by LinkedIn's count of new hires from 2023 to 2025.
Students can prepare for the roles AI is creating as well as the entry-level jobs that remain.
What this means for career strategy
For families of college students, this means three things.
First, career planning can no longer wait until junior year. The students who successfully navigate this transition are the ones who start building AI fluency, industry relationships, and demonstrated skills early.
Second, the value of mentorship increases when the career landscape is shifting. A student who has regular access to executives navigating the AI transition in real-time has insight that no career center, textbook, or news article can provide.
Third, the traditional career playbook (good grades, summer internship, campus recruiting) is no longer sufficient. The new playbook requires portfolio-building, network access, and industry-specific positioning that starts freshman year.
AI has already changed entry-level hiring. Look at which roles in your child's field are growing and which are shrinking.