Young coders and customer service workers hit first by AI job shift, study finds

An analysis by Australia's central bank reveals that while AI hasn't yet caused mass job displacement, its earliest effects are appearing among young workers entering fields like software development, clerical work, and customer service. The study built a monitoring system tracking theoretical AI exposure in occupations, finding job postings have fallen most sharply in high-exposure areas since ChatGPT's late 2022 launch.

Workers aged 15 to 24 and recent graduates in these exposed fields show weaker employment rates and higher unemployment compared to older colleagues, though researchers caution against drawing direct causation. The data aligns with other international studies showing similar patterns—including Stanford research indicating young software developers' employment down nearly 20%—while experienced workers remain stable. The sobering takeaway: AI's labor market impact is arriving first at the entry level, potentially creating future skill shortages if junior roles vanish faster than new ones emerge.