Key Points
A new 2026 study found that remote work, rather than AI, is the strongest factor behind declining hiring of junior employees.
Entry-level workers lose valuable opportunities for mentorship, skill-building, and workplace learning when jobs are conducted remotely.
Researchers argue that hybrid work models may offer the best balance between flexibility for experienced workers and career development for younger employees.
THE GLOBAL JOB MARKET is a difficult hurdle to cross for young, inexperienced, and freshly graduated youngsters. Their entrance into the professional world couldn't have come at a worse time. Economic hardships, shifting employers demands, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has all contributed to a stagnant job market. The International Labour Organization says that the global employment rate stands at 4.6% as of 2024.
In white collar jobs — especially in software and other technology-based roles — the impact is even more pronounced. The advent of AI has rendered a significant portion of the workforce useless, as firms prefer using AI models to offload work rather than hire human professionals as a cost-cutting measure. A report by Nexford University posits that AI would be responsible for gobbling up around 300 million full-time jobs by 2030.
The rise of AI tools means that much of the work that less-experienced junior workers do can be automated. However, AI is less likely to undertake the tasks requiring accumulated knowledge and expertise, often done by senior-level executives.
But, what if we were to tell you that it is not AI that is responsible for less junior-hiring? A new research study has pointed out that even though AI is largely responsible for weak junior-hiring, the rise of remote work is another reason why young graduats aren't getting hired for entry/junior level roles.
A recent research study, published by authors Peter John Lambert and Yannick Schindler in May 2026, gives the reason why AI is not the leading cause of weak junior-hiring. The study, titled “The Broken Ladder: AI, Remote Work, and Early-Career Hiring” offers a fascinating proposal: the take-off of remote work is the real culprit.
See also: ‘Disgusting’: Trump’s Top Economic Adviser Brags About Killing 300,000 ‘High-Paying’ American Jobs
In their study, Lambert and Schindler studied hundreds of millions of job postings and new hires. They found that both AI use and remote work seemed linked to the big drop in hiring junior employees. However, when they accounted for remote work, the link with AI disappeared.
In simple terms, it only appears that AI is causing fewer junior software developer jobs because most coding work is done remotely. Other jobs that can be done remotely (like lawyers) have also seen a sharp fall in junior hiring. But jobs that require people to be physically present (like receptionists), even if they use a lot of AI, have not seen such a big drop.
One of the reasons why remote working places junior career workers at a disadvantage is that in a work-from-home setting, workers miss out on crucial professional learning and other skills.
Early-career workers require more supervision than experienced hires to familiarize themselves with work. In an office environment, workers build important skills, knowledge, and social capital by shadowing and working with senior colleagues. However, for work-for-home hires, the initial onboarding process requires more resources. This, in turn, can slow down their prospects for promotion as much of their work hours are spent on learning new things. As such, remote working has impacted the hiring for entry-level positions, while senior executives remain untouched by this phenomenon.
The Lambert & Schindler study maintains that even though AI is largely blamed for less junior-hiring (and rightly so), the rise of remote work has also been hugely consequential and is often an under-discussed shift.
See also: Have Not seen a Single Job Lost to AI: Deloitte’s Nitin Mittal
Remote working, however, also has significant and unexpected impacts on both the economy and society. An earlier US study pointed out that American fathers who work from home can allot more hours to care for their children. This directly had an impact on their wives, as their earning and employment-rates increased. Another study revealed that remote working boosts birth rates.
An important point to note is that the same concept of remote working that provides many benefits to mid or late-level career workers (see above), is harming young career workers simultaneously.
Work-from-home has by no doubt proved to be a boon for mid-thirties career workers who also balance parenting and child-rearing on the side. They are well-positioned in their professional lives. But young workers, at the cusp of their careers, have been significantly impacted by remote working as it not only slows down their ascent to the career ladder but also may keep some out of the labor market entirely.
However, complete demand to resume the rigid five-days work week isn't the solution, as many studies have pointed out that a hybrid system of flexible working (i.e. mix of both work from home and work from office) proves more beneficial in workspaces.
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