A Census Bureau working paper using Quarterly Workforce Indicators administrative payroll data found that early-career employment — ages 22 to 24 — in the most AI-exposed industries fell, over the ten quarters since ChatGPT's release, by a regression-adjusted 12% decline in early-career (22-24) US employment in the most AI-exposed industries since ChatGPT's launch
A U.S. Census Bureau working paper, which has not undergone full review, reported this finding. It used detailed tabulations from matched employer-employee administrative data to examine early-career employment (ages 22-24). The paper found a 12% regression-adjusted decline in employment for this age group in the most AI-exposed industries over ten quarters since ChatGPT's introduction.
Verified 2026-09-12
Track with InsiderWhy it matters
Young workers in AI-exposed industries are being hired less, an early sign of where AI bites first.
More on Labour
- AI hiring intensity doesn't track the size of a country's AI industry. Stanford's 2026 AI Index, drawing on Lightcast's job-postings database across dozens of countries, found the 2025 leader for AI-skill job-posting share by a wide margin was Singapore, at 4.69% of all job postings — nearly double the 2.6% share in the United States
- Stanford's 2026 AI Index, citing Lightcast's job-postings database, found that even as employer demand shifted toward newer agentic-AI skills, mentions of generative AI skills specifically in US AI job postings still grew, from 2024 to 2025, by 111%
- The information sector — telecom, media, tech services — led US corporate AI hiring in 2025. Lightcast data cited in Stanford's 2026 AI Index found AI skills required in 13.2% of the sector's job postings, up from 7.8% in 2024
FREE · NO CARD
Facts like this, six days a week
The Daily Receipts on weekdays, The Weekly Brief on Saturday — six sourced facts a day by email, two more than the free site shows. Every one traced to the filing it came from. Free.
Get the free daily briefFree · No card · Unsubscribe anytime
Join now and you start with 100 Receipts on The Receipts Ledger — your first step toward a free year of Insider or Pro. How it works →
See today's issue →