During the pandemic, many layoffs and work model transition happened but people still had the hope that the job market would recover within a few years. More specifically, what they expected about the job market’s recovery was having an increase in the number of job opportunities. But the job market remained unstable as Statistics Canada data revealed that Canada lost 84,000 jobs in February 2026, while the unemployment rate of youths aged between 15 and 24 years reached 14.1 per cent, far above its pre-pandemic (2017-2019) average rate. Then, just as COVID-19 began to settle down, another shift took its place. Who would have imagined that the world reshaped by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to come by this fast? In the generation of the digital era, credentials and skills alone are no longer a sufficient factor for a successful career.
Why is the job market collapsing?
As you may have heard, the pandemic caused major job market instability, with Canada’s unemployment rate reaching 13.7 per cent in May 2020, recording historic high levels since 1976. Many professionals, news and researchers predicted that hiring would begin recovering near the end of the COVID-19, and we waited, hoping for the stagnation to quickly pass. Although it has been exactly two years since the World Health Organization declared the end of a public health emergency of international concern, the job market has shifted its direction in the most unexpected way that people were not ready for.
Although there are many reasons behind what is making it harder for students to enter the job market today, there are a few commonly mentioned factors that are more relevant to students. The first is the hiring slowdown started during the pandemic which has never fully recovered. Due to lockdowns and protocols, companies had major layoffs and have maintained leaner teams since. The second is the increase of ghost job postings, which are listings that employers promote without actual intention to hire people. According to Ontario employer’s legal expectations, publicly advertised job postings are now supposed to include whether AI is being used to screen or select applicants and whether the posting is for an actual vacancy. However, companies have been recently employing this tactic to attract investors, build applicant pipelines and make current employees feel replaceable.
Ajun Jo, a class of 2026 UW graduate from the honours mathematics program with a statistics major, provided a new grad’s perspective about the reality of ghost postings. “There are a lot of job postings that have already finished recruiting, but [employers] never took it down or gave an update to the applicants,” he said. “I think they should be letting us know whether they’re hiring or not anymore, but because they wouldn’t let us know, people like myself keep applying without knowing about it, which is really tough for the applicants.”
However, the most significant shift is the adoption of AI. In the first six months of 2025 alone, 77,999 tech job cuts were specifically attributed to AI adoption according to statistics in 2026. For tech-focused schools like UW, especially with a co-op system that requires students to enter the workforce early on, it makes them feel this impact more directly. Ryon Jones from UW’s Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) noted about the shifting environment of the job market. “We’ve seen some changes in the labour market with tariffs, trade disputes and technology, specifically AI, redefining roles.” Jones pointed out that rather than students solely relying on WaterlooWorks, there has been an increase in securing jobs through diverse methods including Arrange Your Own Job, through connections or going back to their previous employer.
From a student’s perspective, Jo shared a few thoughts about the impact of AI in the job market, as someone who is trying to enter the tech industry. He shared that out of around 70 applications for junior level full-time jobs, he received three interviews in the past few months. Jo stated that, despite his acceptance to a masters program on top of his UW mathematics degree and internship experiences, he feels that there are not as many job openings for individuals with similar educational background and practical experiences. This reveals that even students with solid credentials are now feeling the pressure of the narrow prospect that the current job market offers.
Joel Blit, a UW economics professor and the co-founder of the Canadian AI Adoption Initiative suggested a more cautious perspective on the impacts of AI in the current job market. “Anecdotally, certainly people are talking about there being fewer entry level jobs,” he stated. “ I haven’t seen any really hard evidence on it or, and I certainly have not seen any causal evidence that, you know, that this is due to AI. On the other hand, it would at least fit what we might expect to happen.” Adding onto this, Blit explained that companies that are adopting AI for entry-level work is a concern for students as it removes the stepping stone that allows them to learn and move up to the more complex jobs.
Are we losing or gaining from AI?
The reality is that the increase of jobs replaced by AI is not going to reduce any less. The World Economic Forum’s report found that 40 per cent of employers plan to reduce staff in roles where AI can automate tasks, and predicted that 92 million jobs would be replaced globally by 2030. Moreover, Goldman Sachs reported that AI substitution is eliminating roughly 25,000 jobs every month while its augmentation creates about 9,000 new roles.
Sean Song, a third-year mathematical finance and statistics student at UW, also shared a similar job seeking experience from the view of an international student. “For machine learning engineers, the number of recruitment has been somewhat decreased, but also the more important thing is what the companies expect for the applicants. They expect the applicants to know deeper foundational computer science knowledge than before and how to efficiently use AI.” Moreover, Song spoke about the additional barriers that international students face searching for jobs. “There are a lot of hiring posts that require applicants to be permanent residents or have Canadian citizenship. This restricts all international students to limit the number of companies they can apply for.” Along with his thoughts, Song recalled his experience where he had once received an offer form a U.S company but could not accept it due to the tight deadline of the J1 visa application.
Regarding whether AI is a threat or help, Professor Blit made a historical comparison. “So with all these previous technologies, I guess a few things happened,” he said. “There’s a loss of jobs, and so there’s that transition period that’s difficult. Another thing that happens with all technologies is that there [are] winners and then there’s people that are adversely affected. And so depending on what kind of skills you have, these technologies can either make you more productive and increase your wages, or they can replace you.” Blit highlighted that unlike past waves of automation that replaced manufacturing workers, AI seemed to be targeting entry-level white-collar occupations.
At the same time, the daily use of AI tools raises questions about what we are losing along the integration. Blit compared the rise of AI to the introduction of calculators. “Before the invention of a calculator, people were very good at doing arithmetic. Once we had the calculator, we didn’t practice that nearly as much.” he stated. “If we completely outsource all thinking activities to ChatGPT and we stop thinking, I’d be worried about that. But if it just changes the nature of what we do so that we focus more on tasks that are complementary to AI, things that AI can’t do, that is a natural progression.”
A new perspective is needed.
These numbers and predictions may be discouraging for a generation that is just entering the professional field. However, this is not the end of successful career launching, but a complete beginning of something that did not exist before and an opportunity to become the pioneers of new forms of jobs. Forget the past and rather than putting the emphasis on the loss of the skills that were needed in the job market before, think of it as an opportunity where we can invest in developing new skills that will be in demand in the coming job market.
“It’s often said that AI will not replace humans, but humans who use AI will replace those who do not. We’re hearing from small- to medium-sized businesses that they’re interested in learning how to bring AI into their organizations and our students are well positioned to make that happen.” Jones from CEE said, while also encouraging students to build transferable skills that can be amplified with the use of AI such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.
As the nature of work itself is evolving, the job market is not going to look like it did for the past generations and we have to accept it. However, accepting reality does not mean becoming more capable than AI. It means adapting, being equipped with new kinds of expertise, and recognizing that even in this digital era shaped by automation, your humanity is the most valuable contribution you can make to this society. It is not the AI that is needed in the workforce right now, it is the new generation that is AI-native that will survive.
