Entry-Level Tech Jobs in New York Fell 49% Since 2022

Let me catch you up on a shift that changes how you staff and how you defend your budget. The headline everyone reads says AI is coming for jobs. The real story is more specific, and it lands right on your team. The bottom rung of the ladder is disappearing, the money behind the boom is showing stress, and the people you hire are watching all of it. Here's where we are.

The deep cut

• The bottom of the ladder breaks first. New York entry-level tech postings fell 49% since 2022, per the Center for an Urban Future.
• A late-stage bubble makes your spend a target. Capital Economics found market warning lights blinking the way they did before the dot-com crash.
• Cutting juniors grows your union risk. Gallup shows 71% approval as Oracle ties layoffs to AI.

The rung that vanished

Job postings for entry-level "computer and mathematical" roles in New York dropped 49% since 2022, according to a report from the Center for an Urban Future. Executive director Jon Bowles put it plainly: entry-level postings have "fallen off a cliff, and the first rung of the ladder in tech is under pressure."

This matters for how you build a team. Junior designers and engineers learn by doing the work that AI now handles. If you stop hiring them, you save money this year and starve your senior pipeline in three. Design leaders and arts and media roles show the same decline, so this is not only an engineering story.

The layoffs have a name on them now

Oracle just cut 359 jobs in Washington, its second round this year, hitting software developers, engineers, and product management directors. The company said in a regulatory filing that deploying AI across its operations has reduced its workforce. Global headcount fell about 21,000, or 13%, in a year.

Two things stand out. The cuts reach up into senior roles, not just juniors, so "AI replaces the interns" is too small a read. And Oracle is racking up tens of billions in debt to build AI data centers while it trims payroll. You are being asked to fund the same bet with a leaner team.

When the mood turns, they check your receipts

Capital Economics says the Western economy sits in a "late-stage bubble," with market indicators near levels last seen before the dot-com peak. Meanwhile investors keep pouring money into Microsoft, Google, and Meta even as fears of AI danger spike, a pattern the Wall Street Journal captured in one dark subhead. The narrative is doing a lot of work right now.

So write your AI spend so it survives a bad quarter. Tie each tool to a number you can show: hours saved, cycle time, output your team ships. When the mood flips from euphoria to scrutiny, "everyone's doing it" will not hold up in a review. Real results will.

The people you keep are watching

Union approval hit 71% in Gallup's latest poll, matching 1965, and 47% of Americans now want unions to have more influence, a new record for this century. The trigger is AI job loss plus flat wages. Your team reads the same Oracle headlines you do.

Region-wide, leaders are nervous too. The Seattle area lost nearly 7,000 jobs in 2025, and Microsoft's Brad Smith warned that "the warning signs are flashing on our economy." If you cut juniors quietly and hand the survivors more load, trust erodes fast. How you handle this year decides whether your best people stay or organize.

Three questions for your team

• If we hire zero juniors this year, where do our seniors come from in three years, and what does that cost us then?
• Can we show a hard number behind each AI tool we bought, enough to defend it in a review if the funding mood turns?
• What are we telling the team about how AI changes their jobs, before they read it in a layoff filing like Oracle's?