{
  "version": "1.0",
  "as_of": "2026-09-19",
  "derived_from": "longitudinal-findings-2026-09-19.json",
  "governance": "Derived publication, not additional evidence. Retain limitations and cite the underlying employer sources. Employer statements are not independent outcome validation.",
  "records": [
    {
      "id": "WGI-LONG-001",
      "question": "Do published intake figures establish AI-driven graduate hiring cuts?",
      "answer": "Official Deloitte UK announcements show >1,700 early-career programme joiners in 2023, ~1,400 in 2024, 1,498 announced across September/December 2025, and >1,500 in a broader 2026 early-career population including technical academies. Official PwC UK material reports 1,618 graduate + 175 school-leaver places in 2023, >1,500 graduate/school-college joiners in 2024 and ~1,300 in 2025. Neither firm's cited intake sources establish AI as the cause of the changes.",
      "limitation": "Populations and wording differ by year; figures are not pooled into a market statistic.",
      "next_evidence_needed": "Comparable completed-start counts and explicit causal evidence separating AI from other causes.",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/seventeen-hundred-graduates-and-apprentices-start-their-careers-at-deloitte.html",
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/fourteen-hundred-graduates-and-apprentices-set-to-kick-off-their-careers-at-deloitte.html",
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-welcomes-next-generation-of-talent.html",
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-opens-doors-for-1500-new-graduates-apprentices-and-early-careers-talent.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-top-grad-employer.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-the-uk-s-top-graduate-employer-.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-one-of-the-top-uk-graduate-employers.html"
      ],
      "evidence": [
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2023-09-04",
          "scope": "graduate + BrightStart apprenticeship + Industrial Placement",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/seventeen-hundred-graduates-and-apprentices-start-their-careers-at-deloitte.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2024-09-03",
          "scope": "graduate + BrightStart apprenticeship + Industrial Placement",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/fourteen-hundred-graduates-and-apprentices-set-to-kick-off-their-careers-at-deloitte.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2025-09-01",
          "scope": "graduate + BrightStart apprenticeship + Industrial Placement",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-welcomes-next-generation-of-talent.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2026-09-01",
          "scope": "early careers including graduate + apprentices + Industrial Placement + technical academies",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-opens-doors-for-1500-new-graduates-apprentices-and-early-careers-talent.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2023-09-20",
          "scope": "graduate places + school-leaver places",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-top-grad-employer.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2024-09-17",
          "scope": "graduates + school/college leavers",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-the-uk-s-top-graduate-employer-.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2025-09-22",
          "scope": "graduates + school/college leavers",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-one-of-the-top-uk-graduate-employers.html"
        }
      ],
      "citation": {
        "publisher": "Who Gets In? (Elite Careers Strategy)",
        "title": "Early-career volume can move materially without establishing AI causation",
        "date": "2026-09-19",
        "url": "https://whogetsin.com/observatory#wgi-long-001"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "WGI-LONG-002",
      "question": "Does PwC’s evidence establish when interviews changed and why?",
      "answer": "PwC's September 2024 release stated that graduates applying across its business areas would have a final-stage in-person interview in the coming recruitment season. Its 2025 release described a skills-enabled redesign of the graduate offering. Current 2026 selection protects independent assessment performance, while the Strategy pathway names technical, AI and human skills.",
      "limitation": "The 2024 release establishes the announced policy. Without a comparable earlier interview-policy observation, it does not establish when this stage was first added. The sequence does not prove AI caused the policy or redesign.",
      "next_evidence_needed": "An earlier dated policy for the same programme and explicit change rationale.",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-the-uk-s-top-graduate-employer-.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-one-of-the-top-uk-graduate-employers.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/early-careers/applying/assessment-selection-process.html",
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/early-careers/graduate/strategy.html"
      ],
      "evidence": [
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2024-09-17",
          "scope": "graduates + school/college leavers",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-the-uk-s-top-graduate-employer-.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2025-09-22",
          "scope": "graduates + school/college leavers",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-voted-one-of-the-top-uk-graduate-employers.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2026-09-19",
          "scope": "current_selection_policy",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/early-careers/applying/assessment-selection-process.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2026-09-19",
          "scope": "Graduate Strategy",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/early-careers/graduate/strategy.html"
        }
      ],
      "citation": {
        "publisher": "Who Gets In? (Elite Careers Strategy)",
        "title": "PwC documented selection policy and a skills-enabled graduate redesign",
        "date": "2026-09-19",
        "url": "https://whogetsin.com/observatory#wgi-long-002"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "WGI-LONG-003",
      "question": "What do employers say about AI and early-career work?",
      "answer": "PwC's September 2026 financial-results statement says firm-wide AI tools and learning are helping people take on higher-value work earlier in their careers. Deloitte's 2025 intake introduced new joiners to its GenAI platform and its 2026 induction explicitly highlights judgement, creativity, empathy, adaptability and technology change.",
      "limitation": "These statements establish employer-described work/capability change, not displacement of junior jobs or proof that human judgement has become more valuable.",
      "next_evidence_needed": "Task-level changes, supervision and training measures, and independently measured learning outcomes.",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-2026-financial-results--transformation-delivering-results.html",
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-welcomes-next-generation-of-talent.html",
        "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-opens-doors-for-1500-new-graduates-apprentices-and-early-careers-talent.html"
      ],
      "evidence": [
        {
          "institution": "PwC UK",
          "date": "2026-09-17",
          "scope": "PwC UK workforce",
          "url": "https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/corporate-news/pwc-uk-2026-financial-results--transformation-delivering-results.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2025-09-01",
          "scope": "graduate + BrightStart apprenticeship + Industrial Placement",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-welcomes-next-generation-of-talent.html"
        },
        {
          "institution": "Deloitte UK",
          "date": "2026-09-01",
          "scope": "early careers including graduate + apprentices + Industrial Placement + technical academies",
          "url": "https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/deloitte-opens-doors-for-1500-new-graduates-apprentices-and-early-careers-talent.html"
        }
      ],
      "citation": {
        "publisher": "Who Gets In? (Elite Careers Strategy)",
        "title": "AI is entering the work-development side of the early-career equation",
        "date": "2026-09-19",
        "url": "https://whogetsin.com/observatory#wgi-long-003"
      }
    }
  ]
}