James Reed, who employs more than 4,500 people at Reed recruitment firm, said vacancies had collapsed in the UK. Photographer: Hollie Adams/BloombergArtificial intelligence is creating a “jobs drought” for graduates and younger people seeking entry-level employment, and things are only going to get worse, according to James Reed, chair of Reed, the world’s largest family-run recruitment firm. “The truth is we haven’t even hit rock bottom yet in terms of decreasing numbers of vacancies – and this holds for all our markets, including Ireland.” he said. Also, unlike previous, cyclical downturns in employment numbers, this is occurring independently of economic performance. Many, many people are already having a hard enough time as it is, and despite the promises from its advocates, I can’t see how AI is going to create jobs.”
