- Younger workers are hardest hit by job redundancies, study shows
- The technology sector is particularly affected, where AI brings about major changes
- Companies look to hire older workers and ‘turn talent pyramids into diamonds’
Younger workers and those looking to enter the workforce may soon struggle even more to find a job as bosses increasingly use AI tools for entry-level tasks, new research has warned.
The global CEO survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman found that employers are set to focus on hiring for more senior roles, even as most plan to keep staffing levels as they are or even lay off employees.
Instead, AI assistants, agents and chatbots will be used to complete the basic or menial jobs that until now have been the learning fodder for new workers.
Job fights
Overall, it was bad news for the technology sector, which the report found was hardest hit by global job cuts, as nearly three-quarters (74%) of CEOs said they were either freezing or reducing headcount, up from 67% the year before.
Larger companies were more likely to make cuts, the survey found, with 39% of “mega-sized” companies planning reductions versus 28% of smaller ones.
And younger workers are taking the brunt of the punishment, as the number of CEOs who say junior roles need to be reduced in the next year or two has doubled (to 43% from 17%) since 2025 – and shockingly, only 17% of CEOs said they would shift their focus to hiring more junior positions.
Instead, CEOs are looking to hire older workers, the report shows, with about 30% saying they are shifting hires to more mid-level roles — up from just 10% the year before — turning “talent pyramids into diamonds,” the report says.
So is AI to blame? The survey found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the technology was a high priority for most CEOs, as more than 90% said they are implementing AI in their companies – with over two-thirds (67%) still at the planning or pilot stage.
“Notably, the CEOs with the longest planning horizon are the most likely to plan staff reductions,” the report says. “It suggests that they expect a structurally leaner organization, not as a cost measure, but as the destination—the endpoint of an AI-augmented operating model that requires fewer people, implemented differently.”
“But this calculation comes with a risk,” it adds, “Reducing the number of employees that exceeds meaningful AI implementation can leave organizations exposed, and over-reliance on systems that are still maturing introduces its own vulnerabilities. The harder question—one that many CEOs are still grappling with—is what their talent pipeline and company culture will look like in three years if they don’t invest in younger workers today.”
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