AI’s “broken” career scale for university graduates, some experts say

Artificial intelligence could upset entry -level work while recent academic graduates enter the job market, eliminating many positions at the bottom of the white cervical scale or at least reshaping them, some experts told ABC News.
These forecasts follow advances in the years in Chatbots fueled by AI, and the declarations of certain managers of the company on the start of AI automation.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who created a model of AI called Claude, said Axios Last week, this technology could reduce us by half of the entry -level jobs in five years.
When Business Insider dismissed 21% of its staff last week, the CEO of Barbara Ping said The company would go “everything in AI” in order to “develop and operate more effectively”.
Analysts who spoke to ABC News said that AI could replace or redirect entry -level jobs in certain areas of white passes targeted by university graduates, such as computer programming and law.
Current working problems for this cohort, they have added, must probably partly in economic conditions beyond technology. Many blue collars and other practical jobs will remain largely intact by AI, they said, noting that young workers who are warned in technology can be best placed to make up for new jobs that incorporate AI.
“We are in the flow of dramatic changes,” said Lynn Wu, professor of operations, information and decisions at the University of Pennsylvania. “I sympathize with college graduates. In the short term, they can stay with mom and dad for a while. But in the long term, they will go well. They are IA natives.”
During the first months of 2025, the labor market for recent colleges graduates “has deteriorated significantly”, the New York Federal Reserve said in April. He did not provide reason for the trend.
The unemployment rate for recent university graduates reached 5.8%, its highest level since 2021, while the penalty rate has climbed more than 40%, said the New York Fed.
Young unemployment is probably from broader economy trends rather than AI, told ABC News Anu Madgavkar, responsible for labor studies at McKinsey Global Institute, ABC News
The softening labor market coincides with commercial uncertainty and the dark economic forecasts aroused by President Donald Trump’s pricing policy.
“It is not surprising that we see this unemployment for young people,” said Madgavkar. “There is a lot of economic uncertainty.”
However, the entry -level tasks in the white -collar professions are very risky of the AI, said analysts, highlighting the ability of technology to perform written and computer tasks as opposed to manual work.

The CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, looks at that he participates in a session on the AI during the annual annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, on January 23, 2025.
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images, file
The AI could replace the work previously carried out by low -level employees, such as legal assistants compiling a relevant precedent for a case or computer programmers writing a set of basic code, said Madgavkar.
“The bleeding edge or the first type of work to be struck a little more on the entry level level and more basis becomes automated at the moment? This is probably true,” said Madgavkar. “You might have fewer people who get off.”
Speaking struck, Wu said: “The biggest problem is that the career scale is broken.”
For the most part, however, Madgavkar said that entry -level positions would change rather than disappear. Managers will write problem solving and analysis in relation to the tasks according to pure efforts, she added, noting that the required skills set will probably include an ability to use AI.
“I do not think that means that we will have no request from entry -level workers or a massively less request,” said Madgavakar. “I just think that expectations for young people to use these tools will accelerate very quickly.”
Certain jobs and tasks remain largely protected from AI automation, analysts have declared, pointing practical work such as manual work and trades, as well as professional roles such as doctors and senior management.
Isabella Loaiza, researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which studies AI and labor, co-wrote a study examining change in jobs and tasks in the American economy between 2016 and 2024.
Rather than dispense with qualities such as critical thinking and empathy, the workplace technology has increased the need for workers who present these attributes, said Loaiza, citing the demand for occupations such as early education teachers, home aid and therapists.
“It is true that we see AI having an impact on the work of white passes instead of more blue passes,” said Loaiza.
But, she added, “we found that the jobs that are very high human intensity are probably more robust.”