Software hiring peaked in 2022, earlier than ChatGPT
Understand this story
Software engineer Ricardo Pallas wrote an article checking whether AI is destroying software jobs, concluding that US software hiring peaked in February 2022, nine months before ChatGPT was released. The data he gives is: hiring volume fell by about 70%, while the number of software workers decreased by only 5%.
AI overview based on source reports · Updated 2 days ago
Coverage timeline
Follow the coverage to explore different perspectives.
- Hacker News AIGood Night, and Good Luck: AI, fear and what the job data says
The author examines Indeed job-posting data and official employment figures and argues that the sharp fall in software job postings peaked in early 2022, before ChatGPT, and coincided with rising interest rates, while postings have risen about 28% since May 2025. He cites Stanford research showing a roughly 19% gap for workers aged 22–25 in AI-exposed jobs and notes that Anthropic's own software engineer openings more than doubled from 44 in February 2026 to 97 in October 2026. He concludes that economics explains the crash and AI shapes the recovery toward fewer juniors and more seniors, while warning that fear benefits engagement-driven posters and AI companies' valuations.
Activity for this story
- Current comparable activity
- 3
- Peak comparable activity
- 10Nov 5 00:00
- Change in the past 24 hours
- -51%
Trends compare the same fully observed participants, which may cover fewer participants than current activity. Move the pointer or tap the chart to inspect hourly activity; use the left and right arrow keys with a keyboard.