Ward received little interest from hiring managers, and a lot of the roles did not compare favorably with her past jobs in scope or pay. She blames AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe software is screening us out before a human being even has the opportunity to see us,\u201d Ward said. \u201cI honestly believe reliable candidates, including myself, are being excluded from consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LSJ27GYPTVBPFBAMU5Y27I65XQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Experiences like Ward\u2019s are common in today\u2019s job market. Still, researchers from the University of Maryland-LinkUp AI Maps Project<\/a> found \u201cthere is no empirical evidence that AI is reducing overall labor market demand.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings are part of a collaborative project between LinkUp, an employment data company; Outrigger Group, a business advisory firm; and the university\u2019s Robert H. Smith School of Business.<\/p>\n Researchers used their own advanced AI system to analyze 155 million U.S. job postings between 2018 and 2025. What they found sounds exactly like what AI would want them to think: \u201cThere is no widespread AI-driven job loss.\u201d<\/p>\n Other factors are at play: Companies are rightsizing after overhiring during the COVID-19 pandemic and they\u2019re grappling with tariffs, high interest rates and high oil prices. America is also in a \u201clow hire, low fire<\/a>\u201d job market, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last year, leading to fewer job postings overall.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the explanation is not AI,\u201d said Anil Gupta, a professor at the University of Maryland and co-lead of the project.<\/p>\n Zack Mabel, a research professor and the director of research at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce<\/a>, was not part of the research team. He said it\u2019s too soon to tell how AI is permeating the economy and society, noting that job postings are becoming less accurate proxies for actual hiring patterns. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a large disconnect right now between the potential that AI has in terms of transforming the types of work that people do, the types of jobs that are available to people, and how it is actually disrupting the economy, if at all,\u201d Mabel said.<\/p>\n Fresh graduates and young workers have the most to gain from adopting AI, the research found. Entry-level job postings made up nearly 13% of listings in 2025, up from under 12%.<\/p>\n An increasing number of those jobs mention AI skills.<\/p>\n That\u2019s perfect for Prince Michael Kemani, a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, studying computer science and statistics. He hopes to become a machine learning engineer, which means someone who designs AI systems.<\/p>\n He\u2019s already using AI in school and says a lot of his peers are too. Employers are encouraging it, as are his professors.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had interviews where they\u2019ve literally asked me about my habits using AI to code, and it\u2019s important because if you can\u2019t use AI, then you can\u2019t do work fast enough,\u201d Kemani said. \u201cAI isn\u2019t taking over the job of people who know how to code. It\u2019s taking the job of people who don\u2019t code without it.\u201d<\/p>\n This year\u2019s college graduations were something of a reality check \u2014 and maybe a gut punch \u2014 for companies that want to push AI onto young workers.<\/p>\n Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was among a few commencement speakers who were booed by soon-to-be graduates<\/a> for mentioning the technology.<\/p>\n Young workers are still struggling to land entry-level roles. The unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds has long bounced between 5.5% and 8%, but it reached 9.2% last fall<\/a>, a high not seen since the pandemic.<\/p>\n If AI isn\u2019t impacting younger workers, what is?<\/p>\n