The Blubber

As millions of students prepare to graduate this spring, their chances of landing that crucial first job—the one that kickstarts a career—appear increasingly uncertain.

Beyond a cooling economy burdened by tariff-related uncertainty, the rise of artificial intelligence is now threatening the entry-level roles that have long functioned as gateways into the workforce, according to Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer. In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Raman compared the current disruption to the collapse of manufacturing jobs in the 1980s.

“Now it is our office workers who are staring down the same kind of technological and economic disruption,” he wrote. “Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder.”

Many entry-level duties—once handled by junior staff as on-the-job training—are now being performed by AI. For instance, junior software developers once spent time learning through simple coding and debugging; now, those tasks are often handled by AI tools. Similar displacement is occurring in fields like law, retail, and even finance, where Wall Street firms are reportedly slashing entry-level hiring.

Raman also pointed to the recent trend of rising unemployment among college graduates—outpacing that of other demographics—as a sign of weakening job prospects, though he cautioned that there’s not yet definitive evidence linking the trend directly to AI.

Still, Raman emphasized that entry-level work isn’t vanishing entirely. Executives continue to value fresh perspectives from younger workers, and in some cases, AI is freeing up junior staff to take on more meaningful and challenging tasks earlier in their careers.

But the shift underway in sectors like tech is likely to ripple across other industries. Office jobs, in particular, could soon feel the brunt of AI’s impact, Raman warned.

“While the technology sector is feeling the first waves of change, reflecting A.I.’s mass adoption in this field, the erosion of traditional entry-level tasks is expected to play out in fields like finance, travel, food and professional services, too,” he noted.

To safeguard the future of entry-level roles, Raman called on colleges to integrate AI training throughout their curricula and urged employers to redesign junior roles to include more complex, value-adding tasks.

There are early signs that some companies are already adapting. Timothy Young, CEO of Jasper.ai, recently told Fortune’s Diane Brady that in an age of “commoditized intelligence,” it’s less about hiring the smartest individuals and more about cultivating strong leadership and communication skills among employees.

“There is a lot of power in the junior employees, but you can’t leverage them the same way that you would in the past,” Young said, adding that traits like curiosity and resilience are now more critical than ever in hiring decisions.