NYC entry-level tech job postings have fallen 49% as AI reshapes the career ladder

🎯 Impact Sentiment: Concerning

📋 Summary

• Entry-level tech job postings in New York City fell 49% between 2022 and 2025 — the steepest decline of any career field — according to the Center for an Urban Future's September report "Strengthening NYC's Entry-Level Tech Pathways in the Age of AI."
• The report found the supply of new NYC college graduates with computer science and related degrees eclipsed entry-level tech job postings in 2023 for the first time since data collection began in 2010.
• Declines hit nearly every industry, with educational services down 69% and retail trade down 67% for entry-level tech roles. Only transportation and warehousing and public administration grew, the latter up 230% since 2022, which CFU executive director Jonathan Bowles attributes to those sectors playing catch-up while early adopters pull back.
• Crucially, total tech employment in NYC has not fallen but stagnated after years of strong growth. As Bowles put it: "The problem isn't that people were getting laid off left and right. The problem is that they're not getting into the job market in the first place at the lower rungs."

💡 JR Insights

• 💼 Implication: The damage is concentrated at the point of entry rather than in existing jobs, so headline "tech employment is stable" figures conceal a hiring freeze that specifically blocks newcomers.
• 🚨 Risk: With CS graduates now outnumbering entry-level openings in NYC, a computer science degree alone no longer clears the first hurdle — and incumbents holding their roles means fewer vacancies open up from turnover.
• ✨ Takeaway: Look beyond the shrinking sectors: public administration entry-level tech postings are up 230% and transportation and warehousing is also growing, so target government, logistics and warehousing tech teams where the first rung still exists.