ChatGPT or Zoom – which broke the career ladder?
ChatGPT or Zoom – which broke the career ladder?
The authors compare hiring and job ads across four countries. Occupations exposed to AI are also especially suited to remote work; when both are included in their analysis, remote-work exposure remains associated with a falling junior share of hires while the AI-exposure association weakens. Firms that advertised remote roles subsequently hired fewer juniors as a share of all hires than otherwise similar firms. Their proposed mechanism is that informal supervision and feedback are harder to provide at a distance.
This is a competing explanation, not a verdict that AI had no effect. Remote offers are not random, and a smaller junior share can coexist with stable junior headcount. A separate Census study of graduates found worse initial employment and pay in exposed majors even after its own remote-work controls. Those studies measure different populations and outcomes; neither observes each employer’s AI adoption and every graduate’s applications. The authors themselves allow that remote work and AI may reinforce one another.