For decades, the path from education to employment followed a predictable rhythm: a degree, an internship, and a first job that served as a training ground for the future. Today, that rhythm has broken.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quietly taking over the entry-level tasks that once helped young professionals find their footing − from writing reports and summarising legal documents to analysing data or managing schedules.
According toStanford’s Digital Economy Lab (2025), employment among 22- to 25-year-olds in AI-exposed occupations has fallen by 13% since 2022, while older workers in the same fields are thriving. The first rung of the career ladder is vanishing − replaced by algorithms that never sleep, never need training, and never make coffee.
The three-tier collapse
Imagine the workforce as a triangle: At the top sit the experienced knowledge workers − strategists and specialists whose judgement remains indispensable. In the middle, we find the managers who now coordinate between humans and machines. At the base, the entry-level layer − graduates, assistants, interns − once the foundation of every organisation.
For decades, higher education guaranteed employability. Yet if traditional entry-level roles vanish, that guarantee collapses.
That base is crumbling. Across industries, automation has eaten into the foundation. PwC UK cut its graduate intake in 2025, citing AI and process transformation. Audit and legal firms increasingly use AI systems to review contracts or summarise cases, while marketing agencies rely on automation for research and data cleaning.
Adzuna’s UK Job Market Report (2025) shows that entry-level vacancies have dropped by nearly a third since the release of ChatGPT. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 adds that 40% of employers expect to reduce staff in areas where AI can automate tasks. The corporate pyramid is flattening − and the opportunities at its base are disappearing.
Degrees of doubt
This trend raises an uncomfortable question: Is a degree still worth it?
For decades, higher education guaranteed employability. Yet if traditional entry-level roles vanish, that guarantee collapses. The Financial Times (2025) and Business Day South Africa both report that graduates are struggling to find work in professions like law, accounting and finance. Employers increasingly value micro-credentials, digital fluency and AI-tool literacy over broad academic degrees.
Universities are beginning to respond. Many now embed generative AI ethics, data analytics and applied computing into their curricula. Others experiment with industry-linked micro-degrees and apprenticeships. But most still operate under the assumption that students will “learn on the job” − precisely when those entry-level jobs are vanishing.
Generation interrupted
This is more than an employment story; it is a social crisis in the making.
A recent article in Forbes warns that up to 50% of jobs could be fully automated by 2045. The World Bank outlines how sub-Saharan Africa faces a youth employment challenge characterised by a large and growing youth population, but a shortage of productive, formal entry-level wage jobs.
Entry-level roles once served as the bridge between study and skill. When AI assumes those tasks, the bridge collapses. Without early experience, young professionals risk becoming a “lost middle” − too qualified for manual labour, yet too inexperienced for skilled positions.
In the United States, Gen Z is already turning to the trades. Business Insider (2025) reports that more young people are choosing craftsmanship over university because it offers immediate, tangible work that AI cannot easily replace. Similar patterns are emerging across Africa, where youth are shifting toward entrepreneurship, gig work and vocational training.
Re-skilling the missing middle
Corporations are scrambling to adapt. The McKinsey report Superagency in the Workplace (2025) found that while most large organisations are adopting AI, fewer than 1% have achieved maturity. The challenge is not the technology, but people − leadership, up-skilling and change management.
LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report 2025 shows that global learning budgets are shifting towards AI literacy and internal mobility. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s “Skills for Jobs Africa” programme (2025) plans to train one million Africans in AI and data-driven work.
These initiatives hint at a new model: the AI-augmented apprenticeship. The future entry-level worker will not compete with machines, but learn to supervise, interpret and refine them − blending human judgement with computational power.
The human edge
Yet amid the noise of automation, the distinctly human skills are proving irreplaceable. The OECD Employment Outlook 2025 and the WEF Future of Jobs 2025 both highlight critical thinking, creativity, empathy and ethical reasoning as the capabilities least likely to be automated.
Machines may mimic cognition, but they lack conscience. AI can produce a flawless legal summary, but not moral judgement; it can draft a marketing plan, but not understand cultural nuance. The next generation’s competitive advantage will not be faster processing, but deeper perception.
Conclusion: Rebuilding the first rung
Automation need not end opportunity. It can redefine it − if we act. Governments must align education and policy with the realities of AI. Universities must embed adaptability, ethics and human-centred design into every qualification. And companies must replace volume hiring with structured, skill-based learning pathways.
The world of work is not ending, but its shape is changing. If we rebuild the first rung of the ladder through intelligent collaboration between humans and machines, ‘generation interrupted’ could yet become ‘generation reinvented’.
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