AI was supposed to hit new grads hard. So far, unemployment data says otherwise.

Researchers Robert Fairlie and Jane Wu of CESifo’s Munich economics team found no evidence that AI has significantly displaced or reduced hiring of recent college graduates, either in absolute or relative terms. Their working paper, “The Early Impacts of AI on Employment Among Recent College Graduates,” argues that firms may cut new hires for simpler entry-level tasks rather than lay off experienced staff. The study cites a sharp rise in firms replacing many employee tasks with AI, increased AI spending per employee, and higher ChatGPT Enterprise token usage over the past year.