Two-thirds of Supply Chain Leaders Report Entry-Level Headcount Has Decreased at Their Organizations
Nearly half of supply chains have reduced headcount by an average of 10.5% over the past two years, primarily due to the impact of AI, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
Additionally, 66% of supply chain leaders report headcount reduction is concentrated at the entry level, more than double the percentage reporting reduction at other levels in the supply chain workforce (see Figure 1).
Gartner surveyed 303 supply chain leaders across North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America from May 5 through June 11, 2026. Respondents had visibility into or influence over their organization’s or function’s AI strategy, and all represented organizations that had integrated AI into their workflows to some degree.
“AI is thinning the entry-level supply chain workforce faster than most chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are redesigning the talent pipeline, creating a future capability gap that will actually weaken their organizations’ AI performance,” said Tess Frenzel, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. (....)