AI job displacement accelerates for older workers as computer programmers see 25% exit surge

AI is changing older workers' careers, research finds -- here's how

Here's which occupations may be most affected and what experts say older workers can do to adapt. Artificial intelligence has prompted concerns that workers -- particularly young professionals -- could be replaced by advancing technology. Yet signs are emerging that older workers are also affected, according to a new paper from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Workers aged 55-plus in AI-exposed industries are leaving their jobs more often, author Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, a professor of economics, told CNBC. Those transitions are equally driven by unemployment and voluntary reasons, he said. "It's a statistically significant effect," Sanzenbacher said. "For some occupations, it can be quite large." AI may affect the length of older workers' careers in three ways, according to Sanzenbacher's research. Automation may replace older workers, prompting them to either become unemployed or leave the labor force completely, Sanzenbacher found. Or the pressure to adopt AI may lead some workers to either seek jobs that do not involve those new advancements or retire altogether. Alternatively, generative AI could allow people to work longer as productivity increases, pushing up wages and letting workers focus on engaging tasks, according to Sanzenbacher. The research defines AI exposure based on the extent to which AI can be used to perform an occupation's tasks. It draws on Current Population Survey data and information on AI exposure from Tufts University's Digital Planet initiative, which studies the impact of digital innovations. The research found that before the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, older workers in AI-exposed roles were significantly less likely to leave their jobs. However, after the launch of ChatGPT, they were somewhat more likely to transition out of work, including to unemployment. Older workers who are more susceptible to AI changes tend to be white, are much more likely to have a college degree and tend to have higher earnings compared with workers with low AI exposure, according to Sanzenbacher's research. According to the research, based on Digital Planet's AI exposure scores, the five careers with the highest AI exposure -- and therefore more susceptible to changes -- are: The five careers with the lowest AI exposure are: This calls into question the perception that older workers in physically demanding jobs may have shorter career trajectories and therefore retire earlier than higher-educated, white-collar workers. "AI exposure may reduce the gap in career length between low- and high-paying jobs," Sanzenbacher wrote in the research. Consequently, as policymakers consider possible changes to the retirement age, they should keep the potential effects of AI in mind, according to the research. New projections show the trust fund Social Security relies on to help pay retirement benefits may run out in late 2032, according to the latest annual report from the program's trustees. To restore Social Security's solvency, policymakers may choose from a variety of possible changes, including raising the retirement age. When the last major reforms to the program were enacted in 1983, lawmakers opted to gradually increase the retirement age from 65 to 67. Raising the age threshold may be considered in upcoming reforms, though some experts contend that change wouldn't be a short-term fix. Policymakers may also opt to raise payroll taxes on high earners, a popular proposal among Democratic lawmakers. "There's a high probability that higher-income people see a bigger benefit cut than lower-income people from whatever happens with Social Security next," Sanzenbacher said. "These are the very people who therefore need to work longer," he said. Meanwhile, depending on how AI's effects on the labor force play out, those same workers' ability to do their job may also be affected, Sanzenbacher said. Older workers are adopting AI, but not as often as younger workers, Sanzenbacher said. Recent AARP research has found workers see AI as both a threat and an opportunity. While 24% of the 1,015 adults ages 50 and over surveyed said that they see AI as a threat to their line of work, 19% said they see it as an opportunity. Meanwhile, 37% said both, according to the responses fielded in March. Separate research from AARP and LinkedIn found that experienced professionals are more likely to occupy roles insulated from disruption caused by generative AI, with 49.4% of older workers compared with 42.2% of younger workers. Older workers' jobs are more likely to require skills that AI cannot easily replicate, according to the research, such as collaboration, judgment and leadership. For older professionals who haven't started using AI yet, it's not too late, Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster, told CNBC.com via email. Monster's December WorkWatch report found that 42% of 1,504 surveyed workers don't use AI at all. Among the workers who use it, the most popular applications include basic tasks such as email, scheduling and writing support, Monster found. Others are using it for advanced tasks, such as coding, automation or data analysis; job applications, including resumes and cover letters; or creative work, such as graphics, campaigns and content, according to the research. Older workers may want to adopt a two-pronged approach to adapting in today's labor force -- becoming AI-literate while also doubling down on soft skills, Salemi said. A good place to start may be to learn the AI tools your employer is already using, which may help maximize your time for deeper thinking, she said. At the same time, don't forget to highlight soft skills like communication, relationship-building and problem-solving, whether you're seeking to stand out in your current role or in a job you're applying for. "When you can show you possess strong soft skills coupled with the ability to evolve and grow with new technology, it can be a green light for your candidacy," Salemi said. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

AI is cutting older workers' careers short, study finds

New research finds that since ChatGPT launched, over-55s in AI-exposed jobs are leaving work more often, and landing in unemployment rather than retirement The debate about AI and jobs has focused on graduates. New research suggests it should also be looking at people in their late fifties, CNBC reports. Workers aged 55 and over in AI-exposed occupations are now exiting work at higher rates than before ChatGPT launched. The finding comes from Geoffrey Sanzenbacher at Boston College's Center for Retirement Research. The crucial detail is where they land. The increase shows up as unemployment, not retirement, meaning these people are out of work and still looking. How the research works The study pairs US Current Population Survey data with an AI exposure index from Tufts University's Digital Planet Initiative. Exposure measures how well AI can perform a job's tasks, not simply whether the job is doomed. The scores are revealing. Web designers, web developers, database architects, computer programmers, and data scientists sit at the very top, while mining operators, orderlies, and painters sit at the bottom. The design compares the period before ChatGPT's November 2022 launch with the period after. That matters, because exposed and unexposed jobs already behaved differently. The reversal Here is what makes the result striking. Before ChatGPT, older workers in AI-exposed jobs were significantly less likely to leave employment than their peers. That was the expected pattern. Desk jobs are less physically punishing, better paid, and easier to stay in for longer. Since the launch, that advantage has largely been wiped out. The exit rate for exposed workers rose enough to offset the head start they used to have. The numbers, job by job The model predicts how much each occupation's exit rate shifted. Painters, at the low-exposure end, saw a rise of roughly 2%. Computer programmers saw an increase of more than 25%, with predicted exits climbing from 8.7% to 11.1%. Accountants and auditors rose about 22%, from 9.9% to 12.1%. So the damage is landing on the educated and well-paid. Workers in exposed jobs are more likely to be white, more than twice as likely to hold a degree, and earn around $1,410 a week against $869 for the unexposed. That inverts the usual story about automation. This wave is not starting on the factory floor. Three ways it happens Sanzenbacher sets out the mechanisms. Automation can simply replace the worker, pushing them into unemployment or out of the labour force. Pressure to adopt the technology can also drive people out. Some workers would rather leave than learn a new system late in a career, a pattern researchers observed when personal computers spread. The third path runs the other way. Higher productivity could raise wages and let workers focus on more engaging tasks, extending careers rather than ending them. The adoption gap suggests which way older workers are leaning. Around 18% of workers aged 50 to 64 use generative AI, far below rates among people in their thirties and forties, and children are picking it up three times faster than adults. Attitudes track that. An AARP survey found 18% of over-55s saw AI purely as an opportunity, while 28% saw it purely as a threat. What the research does not say The effects are modest in absolute terms, and the author is careful about it. He warns that this is an early analysis and that caution is in order. Two confounds could cut either way. Government research cuts may have hit AI-exposed jobs hard, exaggerating the effect, while the current AI startup boom may be propping up demand for data scientists and understating what happens when that boom stops. And exposed jobs are still the safer ones overall. Even after the increases, programmers exit work less often than painters do, because the job is less physical and better paid. The honest reading is narrowing, not collapse. AI is closing the gap in career length between well-paid and low-paid work, from the top down. Why it matters more than it looks Losing a job at 58 is not the same as losing one at 28. Involuntary separation late in a career frequently becomes an early retirement nobody chose, on a pension nobody planned. The policy collision is direct. Governments keep proposing that people work longer to shore up retirement systems, while the technology may be quietly pushing them the other way. This also complicates the industry's reassurances, including Sam Altman's view that an AI jobs apocalypse is unlikely. An apocalypse is not required to wreck a specific 59-year-old accountant's last working decade. Employers are already restructuring around the technology, as when GM cut 600 IT workers in an AI skills swap. Experience is a poor defence when the skill being swapped in is one you are not expected to have. TNW has written about the people left behind by tech layoffs and AI hype, and this study puts numbers under that. It is also why proposals like giving the public a stake in the AI companies keep gaining ground. The people most exposed did everything the last forty years told them to do. They got the degree, took the desk job, and avoided the work that breaks your back, and it turns out that is precisely the work the machines learned first.

AI Is Pushing Older Employees Straight Out of the Workforce, New Report Finds

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech So far, the narrative of AI in the workplace has had a consistent victim: the recent college grad, supposedly first on the chopping block as large language models automate the types of low level tasks that traditionally provided an on-ramp to office careers. New evidence, however, suggests the tech may be impacting a surprisingly different segment of the workforce: those closest to retirement. In a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, economics professor Geoffrey Sanzenbacher took a hard look at labor data in order to map AI's impact on older workers in the United States. Comparing government job data against an AI-exposure index -- a data set that tracks the degree to which certain occupations hinge on tasks that AI can do -- Sanzenbacher compared the number of workers 55 and older leaving the workforce before and after the release of ChatGPT in 2022. Though the researcher caveats that the "impact of AI on any workers, let alone those near retirement, remains an open question," his findings point to an alarming shift. Prior to ChatGPT, older workers in the most AI-exposed jobs -- highly-trained knowledge worker gigs like coding and tax preparation -- were more likely to work later into their lives compared to those in manual labor. "The types of jobs exposed to AI used to have a relative advantage with respect to career longevity," Sanzenbacher explains. "In the post-ChatGPT era, the nearly offsetting bars for 'not working' suggest that this advantage has been greatly reduced, with a significant share of the increase due to unemployment." Though that general pattern still holds overall, Sanzenbacher observes that after the release of ChatGPT, the share of workers 55 and up leaving white collar work is surging. That's not necessarily because folks are taking early retirements either; as Sanzenbacher writes, "after the ChatGPT launch... AI-exposed jobs saw relative increases in total transitions out of work and specifically to unemployment (but not out of the labor force)." Said another way, growing numbers of older white collar workers are being pushed out of the airplane before they're ready to jump, with little more than a blue Walmart vest as a parachute. Like similar patterns observed around entry-level labor, this appears to be specifically impacting older white collar workers. Though the number of retirement-age workers leaving manual jobs like painting increased by about 2 percent between 2014 and 2025, that's just a fraction of the number leaving high-exposed office jobs. For computer programmers, the number of exits rose by over 25 percent in the same period, while accountants and auditors saw a 22 percent increase. It all points to an important question: if entry-level hiring has slowed to a crawl, and retirement-aged professionals are leaving in droves, how is the average worker supposed to navigate a labor market being squeezed from both ends?

More tech workers are retiring early because they don't want to deal with AI-related changes: 'Many people believe it's overblown' | Fortune

Jennifer Kerns already has plans to travel to Mexico, California, and Cape Cod. After more than 30 years in the tech industry, Kerns, 60, finally hung up her hat in March. Most recently, she worked at GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary, as a program manager and before that, she was a contractor at Microsoft for 25 years. Kerns was already making plans to retire, but the reasons to step away from her role began to pile up in the months leading up to her decision. Nearly her entire leadership chain departed over the course of a couple years. Her youngest child was about to age out of her family's insurance plan. And then there was AI, which became the "sole focus" of the company, she said. "That was really it for me," she told Fortune. "I don't buy into AI. I think it's a bubble that's going to burst." Kerns considers herself a creative, but narratives surrounding AI's possible negative impact on the arts isn't her only reason for not buying into AI. It's that she simply didn't want to deal with it at this stage in her career. "It's not that I don't think I can learn to use AI or [have a] fear of displacement," she said. Plainly, "It offends me." Finding herself at a crossroads where she either picks up the technology she loathes to use or calls it quits, Kerns decided to retire, joining the nearly half of Americans who retire earlier than expected. According to an Allianz Life study published in May, while the retirement age has stayed relatively stable over the years -- hovering usually between 62 and 64 years of age -- 42% of Americans still retire earlier than they intended, many for reasons outside of their control. There are usually three factors driving workers to retire early, according to Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research with the Employee Benefit Research Institute: Their own deteriorating health, the need to care for a parent or family member, and lastly, workplace changes. It's this third reason that has led more tech workers in the last several years to step back from their desks and throw in the towel, Copeland told Fortune. "The tech industry is going through a revolutionary period of moving toward AI, where they're changing what needs of employees they have, and therefore that really causes people toward the end of their careers," he said, "to really come to the forefront." How is AI pushing tech workers toward early retirement? Steve McConnell, a retirement planning advisor and founder of Rain Dog Financial, started seeing an increase in early retirees following the onset of the pandemic. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted in a 2021 paper an excess of 2.4 million retirements as a result of COVID at a rate that began to deviate from and exceed the number of Baby boomers retiring. Workers began reconsidering their priorities following a period of working from home, and spurred by an upswing in the financial markets, decided now would be a good time to call it a career. What separates tech workers from the rest of early retirees, however, is just how often the nature of their work changes, according to McConnell. Over just the last 30 years -- essentially Kern's entire tech career -- there's been the advent of desktop personal computers, internet, mobile, cloud computing, and now AI. "For tech people, one of the distinctive features is that the learning curve of getting up to speed on a new technology can be a lot of effort," McConnell told Fortune. "One of the things that tech workers have to do over a few times over the course of the career, is they need to make a decision whether they want to jump onto the next tech wave and ride that or not." The choice to retire under these circumstances can be emotionally charged and complicated. According to Kevin Estes, a Seattle-based financial adviser and founder of Scaled Finance, his clients weighing retirement have to accept that if they leave now, "you may not be able to get back on the merry-go-round." Though AI has yet to produce any widespread economic productivity gains, a growing adoption of the technology could leave some workers disoriented, should they try to reenter the tech sector in the coming months or years, Estes told Fortune. Others, like Kerns, are certain they don't want to engage with the new wave of technology and are relieving frustration they have with AI by simply choosing not to engage with it. "Many people believe it's overblown," Estes said. "They are concerned that leveraging all this AI just doesn't work. You can get some productivity benefits, but at the end of the day, if you're using it to create code, create systems, create processes, it may not do what you're hoping to do." That's to say nothing of the workers who may have been pushed into early retirement as a result of workforce reductions. In April, Microsoft offered its first-ever voluntary buyout to employees, opening a one-time retirement program for certain U.S. workers whose service time with the company plus their age added up to or exceeded 70. The plan reportedly targeted about 7% of Microsoft's employees. From what Kerns heard from her former colleagues, the voluntary retirement program helped make some people's decisions easier, particularly employees without children. What does early retirement mean for the tech industry? Others, however, are more skeptical on retirement incentives and the impact of more early retirements in the tech sector at large. Estes believes companies' retirement buyouts are cost-saving measures. Veteran workers have higher salaries, and by reducing heftier pay in favor of cheaper entry-level workers, firms can reduce the cost of labor. As tech companies like IBM plan to triple job opportunities for entry-level workers, Kerns pointed to a lack of mentorship for these new employees should too many seasoned tech workers leave the industry prematurely. While IBM has cited building strong leadership pipelines as reason to hire for more entry-level positions, Kerns said there may not be the same levels of guidance and support from senior workers to help foster these pipelines. Rain Dog Financial founder McConnell said the loss of seasoned employees could be bad news for the future of AI itself, as too many early retirements could represent the loss of key institutional -- and industrial -- knowledge about the risks associated with new technologies. "I am concerned about the loss of judgment by losing a cohort of senior engineers at a time when AI is in its infancy and we really need guardrails on the technology," he said. "We are at risk of losing some of the senior judgment and knowledge that really, I think, is necessary for ensuring that AI matures in a healthy way." But there could be economic benefits to more retirees, according to Robert Laura, cofounder of the Retirement Coaches Association. Retirees spend money on vacations and healthcare. AARP found last month that adults over 50 contributed $12.5 trillion in economic activity in 2024, and by 2060, that sum is expected to nearly double. Moreover, people usually retire multiple times, Laura said. They quit the job representing their careers, but then find meaningful work elsewhere, in another field or through volunteering. Older adults provided $1.2 trillion in unpaid care and volunteering in 2024, according to AARP data. "They're happy to work for something they enjoy for less -- retire from their primary career, but not from work," Laura said.

Workers over 55 in AI-exposed jobs face new reality

For decades, experience on the job was seen as the key to a stable career and retirement. Artificial intelligence is changing that for millions of Americans aged 55 and older who hold office jobs. New findings from a leading retirement research center show that older workers in AI-exposed occupations are leaving their jobs at an accelerating rate. The departures look far more like involuntary displacement than voluntary early retirement, and the data tells a striking story. The AI-exposed occupations where older worker exits are surging Older workers in high-AI-exposure occupations have become significantly more likely to leave their jobs since ChatGPT launched in late 2022. The finding comes from a June 2026 issue brief by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, authored by economist Geoffrey Sanzenbacher. Sanzenbacher combined federal labor data from the Current Population Survey with AI exposure scores developed by Tufts University's Digital Planet Initiative to track workforce transitions. Before generative AI tools entered the mainstream, older workers in exposed occupations were less likely to leave their jobs than peers in lower-exposure roles. That advantage eroded after late 2022, with a meaningful share of the increase in exits driven by transitions into unemployment rather than retirement, the study showed. "It's a statistically significant effect," Sanzenbacher told CNBC. "For some occupations, it can be quite large." The study measured AI exposure based on how effectively the technology can perform an occupation's specific tasks, combining three separate assessments of AI capabilities. Computer programmers saw job exit rates increase by more than 25% in the study period after ChatGPT's release in late 2022, compared with the pre-2022 baseline drawn from 2014-2022 data. Accountants and auditors experienced a comparable surge, with exits climbing above 22%, according to the Boston College brief. At the other end of the spectrum, painters, whose work involves physical tasks with minimal AI overlap, recorded only about a 2% increase. AI's disruption of older careers complicates Social Security reform proposals The findings have direct implications for a closely watched policy debate: whether to raise Social Security's retirement age to shore up program finances. The trust fund supporting retirement benefits could be depleted by 2032 unless lawmakers act, the most recent trustees' report projected. Congress last raised the threshold in 1983, when lawmakers gradually increased the full retirement age from 65 to 67 as part of broader reforms. "There's a high probability that higher-income people see a bigger benefit cut than lower-income people from whatever happens with Social Security next," Sanzenbacher told CNBC. "These are the very people who therefore need to work longer," he said. Charday Penn/Getty Images AARP data shows older workers view AI with a mix of fear and optimism Among 1,015 U.S. adults aged 50 and older in the labor force who were surveyed in March 2026, about 24% described AI as a threat to their line of work, AARP research found. Another 19% called it an opportunity, and 37% said it represented both a threat and an opportunity simultaneously. Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer at AARP, stressed during a May 28, 2026, media briefing that as older workers face accelerating job displacement due to AI, the financial safety net they rely on must remain intact. With prices rising for everyday essentials like groceries, housing, utilities, and health care, current and future retirees are counting on Social Security now more than ever. The bottom line is that Social Security is the critical foundation of retirement security that Americans have earned through a lifetime of hard work, paying in with every paycheck. It must be strengthened and protected A joint report from AARP and LinkedIn found that nearly half of older workers occupy roles insulated from generative AI disruption, compared with 42.2% of younger workers. Career experts urge AI literacy paired with soft skills for older professionals Monster's 2026 WorkWatch Report, based on a survey of 1,504 U.S. workers conducted in December 2025, found that 42% do not use AI at all, suggesting broad disengagement from the technology. Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster, recommended that older professionals build familiarity with AI tools their employer uses while doubling down on soft skills. "When you can show you possess strong soft skills coupled with the ability to evolve and grow with new technology, it can be a green light for your candidacy," Salemi told CNBC. A January 2026 Urban Institute brief reinforced that view, noting that older workers bring critical thinking, problem-solving, and ethical oversight essential to responsible AI integration. The career-length gap between white-collar and blue-collar jobs may be shrinking Physically demanding jobs have long led to earlier exits, while office-based roles with higher education requirements have supported longer working lives. If AI continues pushing older knowledge workers out at elevated rates, that longstanding advantage could diminish, even as high-exposure occupations retain lower exit rates. The Boston College brief cautions that as policymakers consider changes to Social Security requiring longer careers, they should be aware that AI may be pushing some older workers in the opposite direction. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc. This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 11:19 AM.