I don't find GraphQL to be easier to learn than SQL. But SQL is a much more helpful and generalizable skill.
That's the second-system syndrome. Once you tack all the stuff on needed for something "simple" to be useful, it gets as complex as the original. Only all the "SQL replacements" do less, and do it less well.
If you want simple, RESTful APIs are a way to go.
(And no, your average analyst doesn't know GraphQL either -- and if you want to go down that learning curve, might as well learn how to do SQL properly in these contexts instead)
I think you'll find that SQL is one of the most widely understood languages. Current programmer education deemphasizes it, but in basically any analytics space, SQL is the lingua franca.
"Understood" is a strong word. There are lots of people with a basic understanding of SQL but who can't write complex queries to do things like represent tree structures and cyclic relationships. I don't think your average analyst can do that.
And even if all the analysts in the world could do such a thing, that doesn't matter if they're not building the applications.
