Apollo Global Management economist argues AI will expand professional employment rather than shrink it, citing the Jevons paradox—but data on entry-level hiring paints a more complex picture.

Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok applied the Jevons paradox to AI, arguing that as AI makes professional work cheaper and more efficient, demand for legal services, consulting services, and financial services will expand, growing the total number of firms and workers in those fields.

Recent data presents mixed signals: youth unemployment for ages 20–24 fell to 5.6% in March after reaching 9.2% in September, and the number of new businesses created every week is at the highest level in U.S. history. However, underemployment for recent college graduates hit 42.5% in Q4 2025, and workers ages 22–25 in the most AI-exposed occupations experienced a 13% decline in employment since 2022, driven by young workers failing to enter those jobs in the first place.

Business leaders including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff are pushing back against automation fears—Salesforce announced it is hiring 1,000 more entry-level workers to build AI systems, and IBM announced in February it was tripling its hiring of entry-level workers.