Goldman Sachs Analysts Evaluate AI Impact on Labor Market: Tech Hits Young Professionals Hardest
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20.08.2026 22:03
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2 min read
The adoption of generative AI has begun directly impacting global employment statistics. According to research from investment bank Goldman Sachs, the technology reduces net job growth by 11,000 to 16,000 jobs per month, with entry-level workers aged 20 to 30 taking the hardest hit.
Algorithms are taking over basic tasks that historically served as entry points into professions for young talent.
Why Entry-Level Workers Are Affected First
Junior staff (entry-level) in IT, consulting, customer service, content creation, and graphic design have proved the most vulnerable. Responsibilities traditionally assigned to junior employees—initial data collection, drafting, basic document analysis, customer support, and writing simple code—are now swiftly performed by neural networks.
Analysts identify contact center operators, insurance claims processing specialists, and debt collection clerks among the professions at the highest risk of replacement.
Layoff Statistics and Job Balance
According to Fortune, automation eliminates roughly 25,000 existing positions per month, while technological development simultaneously creates 9,000 to 14,000 new jobs. This results in a net deficit of around 11,000 positions monthly. Active construction of data centers and related energy infrastructure provides a partial cushion.
Direct layoffs remain telling: in a single month, employers announced 21,900 job cuts directly citing AI adoption as the reason—the highest monthly figure since tracking began in 2023. Over three years, businesses have linked more than 136,000 layoffs to AI-driven optimization.
Automating 25% of Work Hours: A 10-Year Forecast
An analytical report from Goldman Sachs notes that current AI systems could potentially automate tasks that account for roughly 25% of all work hours across the economy.
Under a baseline 10-year technology adoption scenario, this will force 6% to 7% of workers to change occupations, affecting an estimated total of 300 million jobs.
Analysts emphasize that automation does not mean total unemployment, but it creates a structural barrier: entry-level roles are disappearing, robbing young specialists of the opportunity to gain practical experience.
