UK Employers Cut 36% of Entry-Level Job Recruitment, Partly Due to Increased Use of AI and Automation Technologies
A survey of 1,001 companies in the UK shows that 36% of employers have reduced entry-level positions aimed at young people over the past year, partly due to increased use of AI and other automation technologies.
The contraction is most pronounced among medium and large enterprises: 48% of medium-sized companies and 46% of large companies have reduced entry-level positions, compared to 24% for smaller businesses; nearly half of large employers report that their total number of job vacancies is lower than a year ago.
Among small businesses, 24% of respondents say AI and automation have reduced the available positions; the corresponding proportions for medium and large enterprises rise to 58% and 60%, indicating that organizations with higher technology budgets and standardized processes are quicker to use automation to cut entry-level jobs.
73% of employers believe that it is harder for young people to find jobs now than it was five years ago. The survey was conducted by Survation for the Lancaster University Work Foundation from May 7 to 20, and the conclusions reflect the judgments and hiring behaviors of the surveyed employers, which do not solely prove that each job cut is entirely due to AI.
The most directly affected positions are those focused on repetitive, regularizable, and digital tasks, such as basic administration, customer support, data processing, entry-level analysis, routine content production, and some entry-level programming jobs. AI does not necessarily eliminate entire jobs but can first replace modular tasks, allowing companies to achieve the same output with fewer entry-level employees working alongside senior staff and automation tools.
In market mechanisms, companies will shift their hiring budgets towards AI software, process automation, and a few senior employees who can supervise agents and bear responsibility for outcomes; the supply of entry-level labor increases, and competition for jobs intensifies. Beneficiaries include AI suppliers, automation integrators, and workers with domain experience and AI tool capabilities; those under pressure are job seekers lacking demonstrable projects, industry knowledge, and manual review capabilities, as well as traditional organizations that rely on a large number of entry-level positions to cultivate talent.
Source: Public Information