Written by: Ganesh Natarajan4 min readNov 6, 2026 05:01 PM IST First published on: Nov 6, 2026 at 05:01 PM ISTRecently, Microsoft announced that 60,000 employees would be offered voluntary separation; there is also a constant flow of news about layoffs in many parts of the world, and occasionally, in India. These have raised fears of a bleak future for many job seekers and uncertainty for many young professionals in the early stages of their careers in services organisations. Is this fear warranted and if so, what steps can the youth take to find and hold on to jobs in the uncertain new world?The fear of large-scale job losses is neither entirely imaginary nor completely justified. AI is already changing the nature of work, and some jobs are at genuine risk of disappearing. However, the available evidence also suggests that many jobs will be transformed rather than eliminated, and new occupations may emerge. The real challenge is for Gen Z to prepare themselves for the new demands of jobs where they will be surrounded by AI performing all repetitive tasks and they are trained to play the “human in the loop” role. To stay relevant, they have to add value through their contextual understanding and judgment.AdvertisementWhat does the data tell us about job losses? The scale of potential disruption is significant. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approximately 40 per cent of employment worldwide is exposed to AI. In advanced economies, the proportion rises to around 60 per cent, reflecting the greater prevalence of professional and knowledge-based occupations. In emerging market economies, the estimated exposure is approximately 40 per cent, while it is around 26 per cent in low-income countries. However, exposure does not automatically mean job loss; it just indicates that AI could affect the tasks performed in these occupations and incumbents must proactively seek new skills.Also Read | Workforce shake-up is here to stay. Brace for itThe jobs most at risk are software development and testing, where AI coding assistants can generate code, identify errors, and automate testing; customer service and call centres where AI chat bots and voice assistants can respond to common questions, process requests, and provide round-the-clock support; data entry and administrative work where AI systems can extract information from documents, organise records, prepare summaries, and automate routine paperwork; content creation and translation where generative AI can produce basic marketing content, product descriptions, translations, and summaries almost instantaneously; and accounting and financial services with automated systems processing invoices, categorising transactions, detecting anomalies and assisting with financial reporting. Since all these are typically entry-level jobs, it shuts the door for traditional commerce, arts, science and software engineering graduates and threatens large-scale redundancies.In countries such as India, where there are over 20 crore job holders and aspirants, this calls for a serious redesign of skills that youth attain in colleges and other institutions. While only scaremongers believe that AI has already eliminated entry-level employment on a large scale everywhere, the risk is that obsolete curricula in universities and colleges make graduates unemployable. Recruitment patterns are changing faster than education systems and training programmes are adapting to new job skills.The entire ecosystem of the government, academia, skilling institutions, organisations, and youth themselves needs to take responsibility for enabling new capabilities to be developed. The workforce must move from coders, testers, tele-callers, content-writers and bookkeepers to professionals who can implement AI systems, manage cloud infrastructure, protect digital information, assess AI-generated results, data science, cybersecurity, robotics and integrate new technologies into existing business operations. Opportunities will also proliferate for AI-trained professionals in healthcare, financial services, retail and marketing services.AdvertisementGovernments must provide the infrastructure for education transformation, universities must redesign curricula, companies should treat AI adoption as a workforce transformation exercise rather than merely a cost-cutting initiative, and young people should receive opportunities to learn new dual intelligence skills to work with AI, move into emerging roles, and be provided ample opportunities to reskill themselves, participate, and prosper. These are challenging and exciting times, and the people and institutions who reimagine the future of jobs and adapt will be best equipped to succeed.The writer is chairman of 5F World and Founding Trustee of the Pune International Centre