A Swiss study reveals a decline in job advertisements for entry-level positions as AI transforms the landscape of beginner jobs.

      An analysis of 7.3 million job ads reveals a significant drop in entry-level postings since the advent of generative AI, particularly in roles that these tools can easily perform. According to a study released on Wednesday by the recruitment site Jobs.ch, the number of job ads in Switzerland aimed at newcomers to the workforce in 2025 was nearly 30% lower than the average from the pre-generative AI era.

      The most pronounced declines occurred in what the study classifies as “AI-exposed” occupations—white-collar, knowledge-oriented, and office jobs where tasks can be easily supported or partially automated by these technologies. This finding suggests a notable thinning at the lower levels of the Swiss labor market.

      The data originates from the company's AI Report 2026, which examined advertisements from the platforms Jobs.ch, Jobup.ch, and JobScout24.ch between 2019 and 2025. Analysts contrasted these postings with those from the “pre-AI phase” spanning 2019 to 2022, prior to the integration of ChatGPT and similar technologies in workplaces, while also incorporating surveys of employees and Swiss companies to enrich the context.

      The study analyzed 18 occupational categories across 19 regions. Within the identified AI-exposed sectors, it noted a 16% decrease in the proportion of junior roles compared to the pre-AI baseline, whereas senior roles saw a 26% increase. Fields impacted include administration, human resources, banking and finance, marketing, procurement, sales, and IT and telecommunications.

      These two trends illustrate a labor market that is subtly raising its entry requirements: there are fewer positions available for individuals with little experience, while there are more for those requiring extensive expertise. Jobs.ch approaches these findings cautiously, suggesting that the shift may indicate that companies are prioritizing experience for tasks that were previously considered entry-level, or that those tasks are increasingly being undertaken by AI.

      This correlation is inferred from advertising trends rather than established causes, and the report refrains from attributing the changes solely to AI. The data reflects employer postings but does not clarify the reasons behind them. Over the same timeframe, the Swiss hiring landscape has also been influenced by a cooling economy and general caution, factors that the advertising figures cannot entirely isolate. The report includes employee and company surveys to gain insights into intentions that job postings alone cannot reveal.

      Nevertheless, the overall trend aligns with findings from other research. A European study indicated that about 30% of EU workers now use AI in their jobs, particularly for text-intensive tasks such as writing and translation, with many companies reevaluating job roles accordingly.

      The concern is similar in both scenarios. The routine tasks that typically offered newcomers an entry point—such as drafting, data entry, and preliminary analysis—are the same tasks most quickly taken over by automation. This shift has implications beyond a single year's hiring practices. Entry-level jobs serve as crucial opportunities for learning judgment, adaptability, and the foundations of a profession. If this foundational rung is being automated, those expected to enter the workforce may need to be already proficient, a challenge seen in other areas as well.

      For similar reasons, American companies have been reducing internship programs, and graduates are now integrating AI into interviews—the very process designed to evaluate them.

      However, the Swiss data offers some nuance that may be obscured by headlines. The decline is not uniform across all junior positions, but rather specific to the AI-exposed segment. The report notes that some redefined entry-level roles are actually on the rise. What is diminishing is the traditional, undifferentiated entry point.

      For school-leavers and graduates in fields like administration, finance, or marketing, the message is clear: securing an initial job is becoming more challenging, and those that are available will demand more than they did in the past.