Have you ever discovered a new AI tool, gotten to grips with it, and realised it’s just saved you a task that would have taken a junior team member a day to get done? This realisation might come with a mix of feelings: joy at the idea of time and effort saved, and concern at the thought of how that junior team member will now spend their day.

It’s not an uncommon problem. The entry-level job market has seen a reduction in the last few years, and one of the contributing factors – among economic instability and rising labour costs – is the rise and evolution of AI. The question emerges: When AI agents and tools progress enough to perform traditional entry-level jobs, what’s left for people looking to enter the workforce?

Let’s take a look at the issue, and what some companies are doing to address it.

 

 

 

 

The Decline of the Entry Level Job

In June 2025, the Guardian reported that vacancies for entry-level jobs (graduate jobs, apprenticeships, internships and junior jobs with no degree requirement) have dropped 32% since November 2022, when ChatGPT launched. While in 2022 they made up 28.9% of the UK job market, that number has fallen to 25%.

In the same article, Dario Amodei, boss of AI developer Anthropic, is quoted as saying AI might wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs by 2030, pushing up unemployment by 10-20%.

It’s not just Amodei, either. In an October report from the British Standards Institution, a global survey was conducted of over 850 business leaders. In it, 43% admitted they expected to replace entry-level and junior jobs with AI.

The effect is plainly visible in big tech, which was only recently a huge draw of fresh talent. New hires in big tech have fallen 25% since 2023. Now? Entry-level roles account for just 7% of the workforce.

The jobs that are most at risk are ones that deal with what AI’s great at: routine, codifiable, repetitive tasks that require little decision-making responsibility. That’s your data-entry and collection, your basic admin, scheduling and simple drafting. The problem is that these are often the tasks that teach new members of the workforce soft skills that help them adjust to life at work. Skills like discipline, time management, communication, attention to detail and accountability are best learned through these low-stakes tasks.

Let’s put it this way. If you’ve ever lived in a house share, especially with strangers as in university accommodation, you’re likely familiar with the feeling of finding out one of your housemates is clearly not ready to live by themselves. They might be stupefyingly messy, forgetting their keys constantly, ordering take-aways they can’t afford because they can’t be bothered even to whack a pizza in the oven. Often, this severe lack of life skills can be attributed to a lack of household responsibilities growing up. If their parents never made them clean the bathroom on Sundays or do the washing up after dinner, is it any surprise they don’t jump enthusiastically to the task now? If they were never taught the basics of cooking, the idea of making food for themselves is likely quite scary, maybe even overwhelming. Of course they’d rather trust ol’ McDonald’s.

Similarly, professionals who’ve never been through the gauntlet of entry-level work will find it much more difficult to excel in more senior roles, given that they’ll be adjusting to general work life at the same time; how will future leaders emerge if they’ve never had the chance to grow? An October 2025 report from Korn Ferry warns that using AI to cut costs now will result in leadership shortages down the line. CEO Jeanne MacDonald cautioned, “As AI expands in the workforce—becoming a colleague, not just a tool—leaders should carefully weigh the balance between innovation and developing the next generation of business leaders.”

Of course, these cuts don’t necessarily mean that a graduate is about to get fired and be forced to send a handover document to ChatGPT. Instead, it means that the tools grads will be using will mean a business might only have to hire three grads rather than four for the same amount of work. Even still, what happens to the fourth graduate?

Futureproofing the Workforce

The fact of the matter is that people need to enter the workforce somehow. If the simple jobs that any competent grad can do are now being scooped up by AI agents, new in-roads need to be created. Otherwise, the workforce will slowly age and dwindle as experienced talent progresses and retires and there’s no one ready to take their place.

One great starting point is that while AI agents and tools are great at completing these tasks, these devices can’t be trusted to be left to their own, well, devices. Take Klarna, for example. In May 2025 the tech giant reversed the decision to replace 40% of their staff with AI after their customer service quality suffered. These tools need guardians, stewards. They need people who are savvy, up-to-date and familiar enough with the technology to spot where it’s going wrong and know how to correct it. Now, who does that sound like?

PwC saw this opportunity and ran with it. In an August 2025 article, Business Insider details the Big Four firm’s plan to train junior accountants to be managers of AI. Even a team of virtual employees needs managing, and PwC recognised an opportunity to give some junior employees some valuable experience. This kills a couple of birds with one big rock, as it protects and optimises PwC’s AI transformation while providing that low-stakes experience for entry-level employees. It also has the added bonus of fleshing out their management skills, solidifying the firm’s future leadership.

This isn’t the only way entry-level jobs are changing. A June 2025 research report from our Platinum exhibitor HiBob describes a phenomenon in which entry-level jobs aren’t being eliminated, but rather shifting. “While AI is often viewed as a threat to junior positions,” writes author Natalie Homer, “the reality is less straightforward.” HiBob found in their research that 21% of businesses are actually increasing internship and apprenticeship opportunities, with 24% redesigning entry-level positions to be more strategic or creative. So instead of replacing these workers, AI is in many cases allowing them to begin their careers on more interesting, higher-level work. This is, of course, what we all hope AI can do for us!

Conclusion

It would be disingenuous to say AI’s emergence isn’t a threat to entry-level jobs. However, a more nuanced view would be to say that AI is forcing entry-level jobs to adapt, to sink or swim. Just as AI will affect how businesses operate over the next few years, so too will it affect the talent excelling within those businesses. People entering the workforce need to be AI-literate, and they need to have the critical thinking skills to use the technology intelligently. Focusing on finding junior employees with these skills and nourishing them in these areas will not only mean that entry-level jobs will still have a place in the working world – they might even have something to teach their superiors…

Of course, if you’re curious at all about what AI tools can be implemented across your business to help employees of all seniority levels, you know where to go! Join us at HR Technologies UK in April 2026 to meet the businesses driving AI innovation forward for all employees.