Accounting firm PwC has admitted it will be lowering its entry-level recruitment this year in its UK branch, taking on 200 fewer graduates. PwC recently announced similar news across its US operations, too.
Marco Amitrano, the company’s UK chief, has said the company’s lowering numbers reflect a slowdown in investment, hiring, and deal-making across the country. However, he has also nodded to AI as a factor in reshaping current roles.
PwC will therefore join the ranks of companies looking towards AI, although what this looks like down the road for graduates and entry-level candidates, nobody seems completely sure.
PwC Reduces Entry-Level Hiring, Admits Graduate Roles “Under Pressure”
Big Four accounting firm PwC has confirmed it will be lowering entry-level recruitment this year to its UK branch, taking on 1,300 entrants to its graduate programs, compared to the 1,500 entrants it took on the year before.
While Marco Amitrano, PwC’s UK chief, has said that the company will “always be a large employer and training ground for young people,” its hiring habits have changed, based on the impact of AI and a sluggish economy.
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Back in August, Business Insider reported that graduate hiring would also be slowing in PwC’s US branches, adding more uncertainty for entry-level candidates. The company plans to cut graduate hiring by a third over the next three years.
AI Is Reshaping Roles, But This May Not Be Forever
Amitrano, in an op-ed for The Times, said that AI is definitely reshaping roles, with the development of new tools and the investment in skills “offsetting more serious disruptions” to the market, but this disruption may not last forever.
“Our research shows that job postings for AI-exposed occupations are growing at a slower pace compared to those with lower exposure – and this gap is widening.” – Marco Amitrano, head of PwC’s UK practice.
However, Amitrano is optimistic about the future of AI. He wrote, “Most technologies, if not all, have boosted both productivity and wages. Indeed, the integration of AI with other technologies, products and services has the potential to create whole new industries. But potential doesn’t convert to progress on its own; it requires sustained and serious investment in tech, infrastructure and training — underpinned by progressive public policy.”
PwC Joins Amazon and Coinbase in AI Future
PwC is not the first business to look towards AI for the future of the working world, and to suggest that this will affect hiring patterns. Amazon CEO Andy Jessy said back in June that AI will lead to there being fewer workers at the company.
Some companies have taken on a more hardline approach. Coinbase recently admitted to firing engineers who failed to sign up for the company’s AI tools after a week of being asked to, a less than subtle way of saying it’s the AI way, or no way.
However, how much of this is in the best interest of these companies? A study from MIT recently found that 95% of generative AI enterprise pilots at companies fail. At the moment, Amitrano writes that he is doing what other businesses are doing, “watching and waiting.”
