Stanford economists found employment for young software developers dropped 20% since late 2022 as AI took over coding work, while receptionists and translators also lost jobs. Older workers stayed safer because they had management skills AI couldn't replace. TJ Walker says Gen Z should move into sales, medical fields, or roles where AI helps rather than replaces them.
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Is AI wrecking your job prospects? That's the conclusion from a new survey in the Wall Street Journal. There's new evidence that artificial intelligence is reshaping the job market and young workers are paying the price. According to the Wall Street Journal, research from three Stanford economists shows that employment has dropped sharply among younger workers in jobs most exposed to generative AI. Software developers age 22 to 25 are down nearly 20% since late 2022. Receptionists, translators, service reps show similar declines. Stanford economist Eric Bronjolson told the Journal, quote, there is a clear evident change when you specifically look at young workers who are highly exposed to AI. Older workers, by contrast, have been more insulated, often because they built complementary skills that AI can't replicate, like managing teams and navigating complex workplace needs. That raises a troubling paradox. If entry level roles disappear, how will the next generation gain the expertise today's veterans have? The study also found a brighter spot in jobs where AI acts as a bridge or acts as a helper rather than a replacement, such as medicine. Employment growth among young people is actually outpacing the broader market. What's the real message here? AI is a mixed bag. If you are a young tech worker, you just got your degree in computer science, guess what? They're not going to be dangling high priced jobs in front of you quite as easily as they used to. But before you go oh boo hoo and feel sorry for yourself, realize there's never been a better time in human history to be alive and be educated and smart and hard working and be healthy. So many opportunities. Maybe you have to shift and start a job in sales, but if you learn how to sell technology, you will have job security for the rest of your life regardless of how powerful AI becomes. Let's dig a little deeper. Yeah, I can understand being frustrated. If you have friends who graduated from college four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, they majored in computer science and they didn't really work on their social skills or networking or anything else. They just plugged away in the computer lab and boom, they got a nice six figure job right out of college working for Google or Facebook or Amazon. And you thought that sounds easy, I'll do the same thing. And it hasn't happened. Okay, I can understand being a little frustrated, but let's put things in perspective. You are in a generation now that's completely different from when I was young and when all of human history was when people were young and that you've got this gig economy and that's Not a long term solution. I get it. But you're not sitting at home watching Jerry Springer, eating Cheetos, feeling sorry for yourself, wondering how you can just buy illegal opioids. You can work right now, you can drive Uber, you can put yourself on websites to do gigs, you can create software, you can start apps, you can create an online course. There's so many things you can do if you're smart, educated and hardworking to make money today. Yeah, maybe it's not quite as neat and clean as you graduate from college on June 13 and June 14, you show up in a big office and everyone's there and there's the nice coffee machine and the snack machine there, and you get the paycheck on Friday. I realize that's probably what you want, might be the best thing for you, but you have so many other choices now that I didn't have. Other people didn't have that. No, no human generation had until really the last few years. So enjoy it. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Be a little bit flexible. Maybe your goal was to be a programmer and you've got great tech chops and all of a sudden the AI has made that skill set superfluous for now. Why don't you pivot a little? Because guess what? Every one of these big tech companies, they all need human communicators in the form of salespeople. Why don't you become great at sales for the next couple of years, build an income, build a reputation in your industry and then maybe you start your own tech company. And yeah, you can be the initial programmer for your own tech company, but you'll also have the sales skills needed to bring in venture capital, to bring in other investors, to recruit a chief technology officer, to recruit the head of hr. Because you will have something that right now, AI doesn't have the ability to look another human being in the eye and convince them of something, to get them excited about something, to get them to work at a common goal for something new. That's not something AI can do yet. And I'm not sure it will be able to anytime soon. That's something you can do right now. So that's what I want you to think about. If you're a young worker now, rather than just spending 10 hours a day, Click send, click send, click send. Sending out resumes and getting no response. Let's diversify. Yeah, send out your resumes an hour a day, but spend the other nine hours a day networking with people, taking a side gig, getting some income, doing some consulting. Maybe IBM or Google are not going to hire you for $150,000 a year, but maybe three nonprofits in your town would love to pay you $50 an hour to program computers or software to help them with their own fundraising. Let's be creative here because it's never been easier to get revenue sources coming in if you're educated and have skills. It's never been easier. Am I saying it's easy to get a great full time job? No, but you have opportunities and I want you to take advantage of them. Let's look at some of the statistics. Again, I don't mean to sugarcoat this, but the headcount is down for software developers 20% according to the Wall Street Journal since late 2022. For workers aged 26 to 30, it's 40 flat growth. And for older workers who really have seniority and connections and the ability to lead teams, demand is going up for their services. So it's not all gloom and doom. Is there a chance at some point AI puts us all out of work? Yeah, but that is not happening yet. So let's not panic.
