A Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis study found that a shortage of job openings, not artificial intelligence, is the primary driver of rising unemployment among 18- to 24-year-olds. The unemployment rate for this group rose 2.9 percentage points between April 2023 and late 2025 due to fewer job openings, more than double the 1.1-point increase attributed to employers shifting toward AI-related roles and demanding more specialized skills. The study's authors noted that hiring has slowed and young workers, especially new entrants, have borne the brunt of that softening, with AI adding an additional but smaller headwind. The findings align with a separate Federal Reserve Bank of New York study on remote work and young workers, which concluded that young people are being squeezed out by a weak hiring market rather than replaced by robots.