Success·Gen ZSilicon Valley’s graying workforce: Gen Z staff cut in half at companies as the average age goes up by 5 yearsBy Emma BurleighBy Emma BurleighReporter, SuccessEmma BurleighReporter, SuccessEmma Burleigh is a reporter at Fortune, covering success, careers, entrepreneurship, and personal finance.
Before joining the Success desk, she co-authored Fortune’s CHRO Daily , extensively covering the workplace and the future of jobs.
Emma has also written for publications including the Observer and The China ject, publishing long-form stories on culture, entertainment, and geo.
She has a joint-master’s degree from New York University in Global Journalism and East Asian Studies.SEE FULL BIO As AI takes over entry-level jobs, the amount of Gen Z at large public companies Meta and Microsoft has been slashed in half, and the age of the typical worker went up up 5 years since 2023.
Experts say this shift could stifle innovation—but here’s how young workers can still get their foot in the door.skynesher / Getty ImagesGen Z was once mised that getting a job at a huge nology company Meta, Microsoft, or Salesforce guaranteed six-figure success.
But thanks to AI automation, they’re actively being boxed out of the industry, with the portion of workers aged 21 to 25 being slashed in half at these massive public es.
Plus, the average age of an employee at a company is rising.
Experts tell Fortune this change may stifle innovation in the long-term—and there are still ways a Gen Z worker can get their foot in the door.
Gen Z are digital natives raised in the era of YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook; and now, they’re some of the strongest AI users in their personal and fessional s.
But Silicon Valley companies looking to make waves with AI aren’t holding onto the digitally savvy generation—instead, they’re actively boxing them out.
The percentage of young Gen Z employees between the ages of 21 and 25 has been cut in half at nology companies over the past two years, according to recent data from compensation management software Pave with workforce data from more than 8,300 companies.
These young workers accounted for 15% of the workforce at large public firms in January 2023. By August 2025, they only represented 6.8%.
The situation isn’t pretty at big , either—during that same time period, the portion of early-career Gen Z employees dwindled from 9.3% to 6.8%.
Meanwhile, the average age of a worker at a company has risen dramatically over those two and a half years.
Between January 2023 and July 2025, the average age of all employees at large public nology es rose from 34.3 years to 39.4 years—more than a five year difference.
On the private side, the change was less drastic, with the typical age only increasing from 35.1 to 36.6 years old.
Millennials are currently ruling the industry and clinging to their roles as the economy is rocked by uncertainty due to tariffs, inflation increases living expenses, and AI swipes jobs.
Meanwhile, entry-level Gen Zers are just hoping to get their careers off the ground.
“If you’re 35 or 40 years old, you’re pretty established in your career, you have skills that you know cannot yet be disrupted by AI,” Matt Schulman, founder and CEO of Pave, tells Fortune.
“There’s still a lot of human judgment when you’re operating at the more senior level…If you’re a 22-year-old that used to be an Excel junkie or something, then that can be disrupted.
So it’s almost a tale of two cities.” Schulman points to a few reasons why company workforces are getting older and locking Gen Z out of jobs.
One is that big companies— Salesforce, Meta, and Microsoft—are becoming a lot more efficient thanks to the advent of AI.
And despite their soaring trillion-dollar fits, they’re cutting employees at the bottom rungs in favor of automation.
Entry-level jobs have also dwindled because of AI agents, and stalling motions across many agencies looking to do more with less.
Once nology companies weed out junior roles, occupied by Gen Zers, their workforces are bound to rise in age.
And experts tell Fortune that spells a lot of trouble for innovation and long-term stability.
Why Silicon Valley’s workforce is getting older—and what the long-term impacts are The rapid disappearance of Gen Z at large nology companies is a dog whistle to what’s really going behind the scenes—AI is automating roles, from entry-level upwards.
But what’s worrying their presence disappearing faster at large public companies is the fact that early career pipelines are being completely disrupted.
And they’re often the es with enough equity to invest in these Gen Z-targeted talent initiatives in the first place.
“Most public companies have fleshed out training grams that are squarely centered around new grad grams and university recruiting,” the Pave CEO, with early-career experience at Facebook and Microsoft, explains.
“A company Meta, their whole talent thesis was to go after universities, get the smart 21-year-olds, and then train them up.
It’s just not as relevant as a paradigm for .” Jeri Doris, chief people officer at software company Justworks, tells Fortune workforce reductions have created a difficult barrier for Gen Z.
es are striving to do more with less, cutting entry-level roles and striving for AI automation to on headcount costs.
Mass firings have wiped whole corporate departments across the U.S., as companies announced more than 806,000 job cuts from January through the end of July this year, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
It’s a 75% spike from the apximately 460,000 reductions announced through the first seven months of last year.
“Mass layoffs and a reduction in entry-level jobs means it’s harder for Gen Z to find open roles to apply for,” Doris explains.
“On the flip side, Gen Z is prioritizing flexible working, job stability and work-life balance—something the industry may not be able to offer—so they’re applying to roles in different industries.” As thousands of Gen Z are shut out making a name in the industry—even just getting a foot in the door—there could be serious long-term impacts.
In the near future, many CEOs may espouse the money-saving potential of automating entry-level jobs.
But looking 10 or 20 years ahead, when nology companies’ current millennial workers gress towards senior roles, there’s the question of who will take over their mid-level jobs.
If Gen Z don’t have the opportunity to learn from the bottom-up, there presents a major issue of stifled innovation and a lack of talent ready to step into those positions.
Pave CEO Schulman uses sales roles as an example: “There’s a very linear, structured path that exists across almost every company.
You start doing the junior-level outbound sourcing work, then you become a mid-market account executive, then you become an enterprise seller.
Enterprise sellers, in my opinion, will not be disrupted by AI anytime soon.” “Enterprise sellers are still needed, but you’re removing the roles beneath them on that career hierarchy.
How are we going to train the future of enterprise sellers, if they aren’t going through the conventional steps to get there?” How Gen Z industry hopefuls can make the best of the situation While the situation looks scary for Gen Zers looking to get a job at a firm, experts tell Fortune they should leverage the assets they have.
Being new to the industry can even work to their advantage. “[Companies] can hire a 21, 22-year-old that has not been brainwashed by years of corporate America.
And instead, can just break the rules and leverage AI to a much greater degree without the hindrance of years of bias,” Schulman says.
“I do think there is a new crop of these young ones that are just really leveraging AI maximally.” To be a highly sought-after worker in this AI-automated era, that means being “manically” focused on all the new models that come out.
Gen Z should study how to mpt chatbots extremely effectively, and even create bespoke models for their lines of work.
Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor for LinkedIn, also tells Fortune that the young fessionals shouldn’t give up on the industry.
Instead, they should rethink their path within it—upskilling and taking on new career pathways can be a strong point of entry.
Lucky for Gen Z, they don’t have to go back to college to get an upper-hand in the talent market.
“Building skills through certifications, gig work, and online communities can open doors,” Rathod recommends. “Roles in UX, AI ethics, cybersecurity, and duct operations are mising entry points.
Instead of waiting for opportunities, they should create them—through freelance jects, networking, and showcasing work online.” “Employers are increasingly rethinking traditional degree requirements.
For Gen Z, the right certifications or micro credentials can outweigh a lack of years on the resume.
This helps them stay competitive even when entry level opportunities shrink.” Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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