AI threatening to push young people out of entry-level jobs

by Catherine Morrison

OTTAWA — Throughout her university career, Jacqueline Silver assumed her computer science degree would guarantee her a job. Finding out she was wrong was a demoralizing experience.

Silver, who graduated recently from McGill University and now lives in Toronto, spent more than a year applying for hundreds of jobs before finally finding one in her field this month.

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“I was really exhausted, and it was also just really discouraging,” said Silver, who noted that several of her classmates have also had trouble finding work.

“It was basically like I was enrolled in a whole separate class because I would go to the library and do my homework for each class and then spend an equal amount of time just applying for jobs.”

She won’t likely be the last to scramble for work. New research shows that the spread of artificial intelligence is already eating into the supply of jobs in multiple fields, including computer science — and it’s hitting young people the hardest.

A recent Stanford University academic paper found that early-career workers aged 22 to 25 in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a decline in employment, while employment for experienced workers and those in less exposed fields has remained stable or continued to grow.

Reality of AI ‘very complex’

Hamoon Ekhtiari is CEO of FutureFit AI, a Canadian company that uses artificial intelligence to connect people to jobs. He said the occupations most exposed to AI include junior roles in software development, sales, marketing and customer service.

Ekhtiari said the reality of the impact AI is having on jobs is “very complex.”

“AI will create a bunch of jobs and opportunities and it’ll impact a bunch of other jobs,” he said.

Silver said generative AI tools like ChatGPT are able to do tasks like writing code “quite well,” which poses a threat to entry-level jobs in her field.

“Maybe you still need someone to tweak it or look at it closely, but overall, you don’t really need that many people to write it anymore because the generative AI can do it,” she said.

Ekhtiari said companies need to think beyond the short term and cultivate young talent. He also said schools need to do a better job of connecting people to skills training and governments need to do more to help people through job transitions.

“Traditionally, there was a promise. Go to school for four years, you’ll have a 40-year career,” Ekhtiari said. “That promise no longer holds.”

Catherine Connelly, a professor of human resources and management at McMaster University, said some companies are finding that AI is “definitely not” a replacement for humans in jobs that involve strategy and decision-making.

“Sometimes what the tool might be good for is automating some entry-level tasks,” she said. “There is a danger that some people are going to not have that opportunity to come in at an entry level position, where they’re doing those routine tasks that nobody else wants to do.”

Unemployment rose to 14.7 per cent for Canadians aged 15 to 24 in September, Statistics Canada said last Friday. That’s a 15-year high outside the pandemic years.

Youth unempyment crisis ‘deepening’

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis warned Wednesday that the “deepening youth unemployment crisis” will affect young workers’ career trajectories for the rest of their lives.

He accused the Liberals of lacking a strategy to address youth unemployment and pitched a Conservative proposal to boost financial educational supports in high-demand fields and encourage employers to build housing for workers.

Jennifer Kozelj, spokesperson for Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu, said in an email that AI is everywhere now, from hospitals to classrooms.

“The world of work is changing fast, and workers, in particularly young Canadians, are feeling it,” she said. “These are challenging times, but we are acting with urgency to harness this tool, build on productivity, and ensure no worker gets left behind.”

— with files from Craig Lord

Read more:

• Feds give $1.3 million to three Saskatchewan businesses for AI
• New smartphone-based AI tool will strengthen grain quality data
• LISTEN: Tech expert raises safety concerns over youth using AI