The prediction was that coding assistants would hollow out software employment. The hiring data so far says otherwise.
US software development job postings have risen nearly 15 percent since February 2025, the month Anthropic released Claude Code, according to Indeed Hiring Lab. Overall job postings fell across the same stretch.
The code itself increasingly comes from machines. GitHub reported in October that one in three pull requests now involve an AI agent, up from fewer than one in ten a year earlier.
GitHub’s own projection is blunt. It says that if the pace holds, most code pushed to its platform within two years could be agent-written, and much of it may never be fully read by a person.
McKinsey’s North America chair Eric Kutcher told CNBC the rebound undercuts the earlier panic. Companies are producing more software than ever, he said, and developers who work alongside AI remain in demand, with growth turning up in exactly the places displacement was expected.
The story underneath the headline numbers is a shift in the role rather than its removal. Reviewing, directing and verifying agent output is work, and someone has to carry it.
GitHub has not confirmed claims that AI-written code has already passed half of all code on its platform.
