ChatGPT reduces youth employment, here are the most affected sectors in the world

The number of jobs for young people has fallen by almost a third since ChatGPT launched in November 2022.

Vacancies for graduates, professional internships, practical jobs and entry-level positions that do not require a degree have fallen by 31.9 percent, according to a study by job search site Adzuna, according to The Times.

These entry-level jobs now make up just a quarter of the overall job market, down from 28.9 percent in 2022.

Retail, IT, accounting, and finance are among the sectors hardest hit since the artificial intelligence application began operating.

A growing number of companies have spoken openly about their plans to use artificial intelligence to reduce the number of employees.

In May 2023, BT said it would replace 10,000 jobs with artificial intelligence by the end of the decade.

Allison Kirkby, chief executive of BT, recently said that advances in AI could lead to even bigger job cuts at the telecommunications company.

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, the $61 billion AI startup behind the chatbot Claude, warned last month that AI could eliminate half of entry-level office jobs within five years, increasing unemployment by 10 to 20 percent.

James Neave, head of data science at Adzuna, said that in addition to the general economic challenges facing businesses, AI is a major factor in the shrinking entry-level job market.

“If you can reduce employment to the entry level, that will simply increase efficiency and improve cost savings,” he added.

Increasing burdens on businesses due to rising national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage, coupled with the upcoming Employment Rights Act, have also discouraged companies from hiring at lower levels.

The number of entry-level positions fell another 4.2 percent in May, even as the broader labor market continued to strengthen. The total number of jobs rose 0.49 percent in May from a year earlier, to 858,465 — the third consecutive monthly increase.

The average advertised salary also rose by 9.4 per cent year-on-year, reaching £42,403 – the strongest annual increase since mid-2022. The biggest drop in entry-level jobs is in the retail sector, with a 78.2 per cent drop in advertised roles between November 2022 and May 2025, followed by the logistics and warehousing sector and administration.

"National Insurance contributions were simply a financial burden," said Neave, adding that the Employment Rights Act "is making the situation even worse for employers."

“If you are an employer, all of this adds to the reasons why you shouldn't hire people,” he said.

The number of vacancies has more than halved in some sectors since November 2022. IT jobs have fallen by 54.8 percent, while entry-level positions in accounting and finance have fallen by 50.8 percent.

The total number of vacancies in the UK has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, exceeding the global average, but still lags behind major markets such as the United States, France and Germany.

The ratio of job seekers to each vacancy increased to 2.02, from 1.98 in April, while the average time to fill a job fell from 39.6 days to 35.8 days.