0.88
▼ 12% since the 2022 peak
headcount of US customer support agents aged 22–25, December 2025 (November 2022 = 1)
20212025

What the chart shows

Among US customer support agents, headcount for ages 22–25 peaked in November 2022, the month the index is set to 1, and fell to 0.88 by December 2025, 12% lower. Agents aged 26–30 were 4% below that month’s level.

Every group aged 31 and over grew: ages 35–40 reached 1.14, ages 41–49 1.09 and ages 50 and over 1.03. The same pattern, sharper, appears among software developers.

Key numbers

MeasureValue
Ages 22–25, Nov 2022 (peak)1.000
Ages 22–25, Dec 20250.882
Ages 26–30, Dec 20250.956
Ages 35–40, Dec 20251.135
Ages 50+, Dec 20251.035

How to read it

  • Headcount is indexed to 1 in November 2022 for each age group, so the lines show change within a group, not the groups’ relative size.
  • The AI Index’s chart title calls this occupation customer service agents; the data file calls it customer support agents.
Source: Brynjolfsson et al., 2025, via the AI Index Report 2026 (Stanford HAI), figure 4.4.29: Normalized headcount trends by age group for software developers and customer service agents, 2021–25. Chart and text by AI Adoption.
Numbers checked against the published data on 20 October 2026.
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