{"id":50149,"date":"2025-09-08T03:09:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T03:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/50149\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T03:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T03:09:19","slug":"silicon-valleys-graying-workforce-gen-z-staff-cut-in-half-at-tech-companies-as-the-average-age-goes-up-by-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/50149\/","title":{"rendered":"Silicon Valley’s graying workforce: Gen Z staff cut in half at tech companies as the average age goes up by 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gen Z are digital natives raised in the era of YouTube<\/a>, Tumblr, Instagram<\/a>, and Facebook; and now, they\u2019re some of the strongest AI users<\/a> in their personal and professional lives. But Silicon Valley tech companies looking to make waves with AI aren\u2019t holding onto the digitally savvy generation\u2014instead, they\u2019re actively boxing them out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The percentage of young Gen Z employees between the ages of 21 and 25 has been cut in half at technology companies over the past two years, according to recent data<\/a> from compensation management software business Pave<\/a> with workforce data from more than 8,300 companies. These young workers accounted for 15% of the workforce at large public tech firms in January 2023. By August 2025, they only represented 6.8%. The situation isn\u2019t pretty at big private tech companies, either\u2014during that same time period, the proportion of early-career Gen Z employees dwindled from 9.3% to 6.8%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the average age of a worker at a tech company has risen dramatically over those two and a half years. Between January 2023 and July 2025, the average age of all employees at large public technology businesses rose from 34.3 years to 39.4 years\u2014more than a five year difference. On the private side, the change was less drastic, with the typical age only increasing from 35.1 to 36.6 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Millennials are currently ruling the tech industry and clinging to their roles as the economy is rocked by uncertainty due to tariffs, inflation increases living expenses, and AI swipes jobs<\/a>. Meanwhile, entry-level Gen Zers<\/a> are just hoping to get their careers off the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re 35 or 40 years old, you\u2019re pretty established in your career, you have skills that you know cannot yet be disrupted by AI,\u201d Matt Schulman, founder and CEO of Pave, tells Fortune. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of human judgment when you\u2019re operating at the more senior level\u2026If you\u2019re a 22-year-old that used to be an Excel junkie or something, then that can be disrupted. So it\u2019s almost a tale of two cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schulman points to a few reasons why tech company workforces are getting older and locking Gen Z out of jobs. One is that big companies\u2014like Salesforce<\/a>, Meta<\/a>, and Microsoft<\/a>\u2014are becoming a lot more efficient thanks to the advent of AI. And despite their soaring trillion-dollar profits, they\u2019re cutting employees<\/a> at the bottom rungs in favor of automation<\/a>. Entry-level jobs have also dwindled because of AI agents, and stalling promotions across many agencies looking to do more with less. Once technology companies weed out junior roles, occupied by Gen Zers, their workforces are bound to rise in age. And experts tell Fortune that spells a lot of trouble for innovation and long-term business stability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why Silicon Valley\u2019s workforce is getting older\u2014and what the long-term impacts are<\/p>\n

The rapid disappearance of Gen Z at large technology companies is a dog whistle to what\u2019s really going behind the scenes\u2014AI is automating roles, from entry-level upwards. But what\u2019s worrying about their presence disappearing faster at large public companies is the fact that early career pipelines are being completely disrupted. And they\u2019re often the businesses with enough equity to invest in these Gen Z-targeted talent initiatives in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost public companies have fleshed out training programs that are squarely centered around new grad programs and university recruiting,\u201d the Pave CEO, with early-career experience<\/a> at Facebook and Microsoft<\/a>, explains. \u201cA company like Meta, their whole talent thesis was to go after universities, get the smart 21-year-olds, and then train them up. It\u2019s just not as relevant as a paradigm for private companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeri Doris, chief people officer at software company Justworks, tells Fortune workforce reductions have created a difficult barrier for Gen Z. Businesses are striving to do more with less, cutting entry-level roles and striving for AI automation to save on headcount costs. Mass firings have wiped whole corporate departments across the U.S., as companies announced more than 806,000 job cuts from January through the end of July this year, according to a report from<\/a> Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It\u2019s a 75% spike from the approximately 460,000 reductions announced through the first seven months of last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMass tech layoffs and a reduction in entry-level jobs means it\u2019s harder for Gen Z to find open roles to apply for,\u201d Doris explains. \u201cOn the flip side, Gen Z is prioritizing flexible working, job stability and work-life balance\u2014something the tech industry may not be able to offer\u2014so they\u2019re applying to roles in different industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

As thousands of Gen Z are shut out making a name in the industry\u2014even just getting a foot in the door\u2014there could be serious long-term impacts. In the near future, many CEOs may espouse the money-saving potential of automating entry-level jobs. But looking 10 or 20 years ahead, when technology companies\u2019 current millennial workers progress towards senior roles, there\u2019s the question of who will take over their mid-level jobs. If Gen Z don\u2019t have the opportunity to learn from the bottom-up, there presents a major issue of stifled innovation and a lack of talent ready to step into those positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pave CEO Schulman uses sales roles as an example: \u201cThere\u2019s a very linear, structured path that exists across like almost every tech company. You start doing the junior-level outbound sourcing work, then you become a mid-market account executive, then you become an enterprise seller. Enterprise sellers, in my opinion, will not be disrupted by AI anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEnterprise sellers are still needed, but you\u2019re removing the roles beneath them on that career hierarchy. How are we going to train the future of enterprise sellers, if they aren\u2019t going through the conventional steps to get there?\u201d<\/p>\n

How Gen Z tech industry hopefuls can make the best of the situation<\/p>\n

While the situation looks scary for Gen Zers looking to get a job at a tech firm, experts tell Fortune they should leverage the assets they have. Being new to the industry can even work to their advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[Companies] can hire a 21, 22-year-old that has not been brainwashed by years of corporate America. And instead, can just break the rules and leverage AI to a much greater degree without the hindrance of years of bias,\u201d Schulman says. \u201cI do think there is a new crop of these young ones that are just really leveraging AI maximally.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be a highly sought-after worker in this AI-automated era, that means being \u201cmanically\u201d focused on all the new models that come out. Gen Z should study how to prompt chatbots extremely effectively, and even create bespoke models for their lines of work. Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor for LinkedIn<\/a>, also tells Fortune that the young professionals shouldn\u2019t give up on the tech industry. Instead, they should rethink their path within it\u2014upskilling and taking on new career pathways can be a strong point of entry. Lucky for Gen Z, they don\u2019t have to go back to college to get an upper-hand in the talent market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding skills through certifications, gig work, and online communities can open doors,\u201d Rathod recommends. \u201cRoles in UX, AI ethics, cybersecurity, and product operations are promising entry points. Instead of waiting for opportunities, they should create them\u2014through freelance projects, networking, and showcasing work online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers are increasingly rethinking traditional degree requirements. For Gen Z, the right certifications or micro credentials can outweigh a lack of years on the resume. This helps them stay competitive even when entry level opportunities shrink.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gen Z are digital natives raised in the era of YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook; and now, they\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,79,2788,5059,297,298,11440,18,32485,300,19,17,3582,1722,305,5584,14083,4670,29967,82,19436,23748,2797],"class_list":{"0":"post-50149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-careers","13":"tag-chatbots","14":"tag-chatgpt","15":"tag-colleges-and-universities","16":"tag-economic-downturn","17":"tag-eire","18":"tag-firing","19":"tag-gen-z","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-layoffs","23":"tag-meta","24":"tag-microsoft","25":"tag-millennials","26":"tag-salesforce","27":"tag-silicon-valley","28":"tag-tech-workers","29":"tag-technology","30":"tag-u-s-workers","31":"tag-upskilling","32":"tag-young-workers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}