College Graduates from AI-Exposed Majors Are Facing Underemployment and Lower Earnings
Recent college graduates who majored in fields heavily impacted by artificial intelligence (AI), such as computer science, are increasingly finding themselves underemployed or working in lower-wage sectors like retail and food service. This shift is attributed to the rapid adoption of AI tools following OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in late 2022, which led to a sharp decline in entry-level hiring for roles traditionally filled by these graduates. According to two Census Bureau papers coauthored by Lee Tucker, employment rates among early-career workers in highly AI-exposed industries dropped significantly over ten quarters after the release of ChatGPT. While overall job availability recovered somewhat by 2025, it did so from a smaller base, and many graduates are still taking lower-paying jobs outside their field to remain employed. The impact is not just on employment rates but also earnings: recent AI-exposed majors saw an average drop of five percentage points in the likelihood of holding a job after graduation and experienced a 13% decline in initial quarterly earnings. These effects resemble those seen during severe recessions, despite no such economic downturn occurring.
Topics: AI college graduates employment job market disruption