Stanford study confirms AI hits young workers the most

The Stanford Digital Economy Lab at Stanford University has just released a report that could totally shift how you think about your career. The report studied the impact of AI on jobs, and the results are eye-opening.

The impact on young workers

The report, titled “Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence”, shows that in industries most exposed to AI automation, jobs for 22- to 25-year-olds have taken a major hit.

Basically, demand for early-career professionals in software engineering, customer support, marketing and similar fields has gone down significantly.

The authors of the report found that by July 2025, employment for software developers aged 22-25 declined by nearly 20% compared to its peak in late 2022. Their analysis also showed a similar pattern for computer occupations and service clerks more generally.

Contrasting picture for older workers

While youngsters are finding it tough to get a job, the picture is different for older workers in those same fields. Their employment rates have been holding steady.

Overall, the report says that workers aged 22-25 have witnessed a 6% drop in employment from late 2022 to July 2025 in the most AI-exposed occupations, versus a 6-9% rise for older workers.

This, the report notes, explains why so many fresh graduates are struggling to land jobs in certain sectors, even though demand still exists. The authors also say that the findings are in line with anecdotal data and media reports.

Hands-on jobs hold steady

On the flip side, hands-on jobs for youngsters in professions such as health aides and maintenance workers are steady, or even growing.

For example, the report notes that the data for health aides, comprising nursing aides, psychiatric aides, and home health aides, show a completely different trend compared to that for software or customer service.

In these sectors, employment for young workers has been growing faster than for older workers.

The rise of AI-augmented professions

Beyond the AI-exposed and non-AI-exposed sectors, there is a third space: AI-augmented professions. These are professions where AI is used to assist workers, and not replace them, and they are also seeing job growth across categories.

The Stanford report notes that occupations with the highest estimated AI augmentation shares have not experienced a similar pattern as those with AI automation.

Employment changes for young workers aged 22-25 are not impacted by augmentation exposure. In fact, they are the ones seeing the fastest employment growth.

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Data and methodology

These findings, in the report authored by Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar and Ruyu Chen, are based on the analysis of data from ADP. This firm, the largest payroll software provider in the United States, tracks millions of workers across tens of thousands of companies.

The fun-fact

To conclude, here is also a fun fact about the report. The authors say they used Artificial Intelligence tools to help put it together, showing how AI could augment professionals.