One-Third Of New Employees Quit This Industry Within The First Year (And It's Not Fast Food)

Low-wage positions in the food and service industries are renowned as some of the most demanding jobs out there. However, it turns out there is another industry with a particularly high turnover rate — especially for younger workers. A 2026 survey by BambooHR found that 33% of entry-level workers in the finance industry quit their jobs within one year. While it's no secret that the finance industry has a dark side, the infamous workloads and toxic environments don't appear to be entirely informing why so many workers are deciding to jump ship.

Instead, a newer industry trend is partially to blame for rising turnover. In 2026, the capabilities of AI coding agents are so staggering that they are completely changing the nature of entry-level work. Most AI is best suited to handling basic tasks — often the kind of work that first-year employees are likely to take on. This is leaving new hires with more nuanced responsibilities – duties that their predecessors might have otherwise spent years working up to — thereby creating experience gaps that can further strain young workers.

On paper, the notion of new employees being able to skip the grunt work stage to get to work on more advanced assignments might seem like a positive thing. However, there is something to be said for learning to walk before you can run. For instance, researchers at Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that junior level accountants largely accepted AI-produced work with little scrutiny, thereby increasing the potential for faulty data to negatively impact projects and clients. In comparison, more experienced accountants saw AI as collaborative, and were therefore more discerning with data.

However, it isn't just junior accountants that are placing excessive faith into existing AI tools. In 2023, IBM replaced thousands of employees with AI automation, only to later hire back even more people. Specifically, IBM and other companies have found that AI continues to lag in its performance of more human-facing tasks like building connections with clients and reading and responding to emotions.

Even with AI's limitations, the push for automation is impacting employment opportunities for entry-level workers, with BambooHR finding that for every one entry-level job available in 2025, there were three available for senior-level staff more adept at handling complicated tasks. This leaves entry-level workers facing an even more competitive market and an environment where certain skills are essential significantly earlier on in their career path than in years prior. This makes it unsurprising that some might be more inclined to jump ship rather than try to keep up.