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What if remote working, not AI, is to blame for weak junior hiring
New evidence suggests the rise of working from home has made entry-level hires a less attractive proposition.
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The rise of remote work has worsened the trade-off for hiring entry-level workers, while leaving the calculus for senior hires unchanged.
PHOTO: PIXABAY
John Burn-Murdoch
Graduates and other new entrants to the world of work have had a rough few years. A cool labour market for everyone has been icy for the youngest, with hiring of junior workers lagging the more experienced across a wide range of countries.
The early-career hiring pullback has been especially pronounced in white-collar work – software and other tech roles foremost among them – leading observers to point to an obvious culprit: the rise of AI tools that can perform much of the work typically done by juniors but are less able to replace the accumulated knowledge and experience of seasoned professionals.
