AI's Impact on Jobs

We can finally say AI isn't killing jobs. A new paper from me, Lisa K. Simon, and Ryan Stevens uses firm-level spend and workforce data from Ramp and Revelio Labs across 21K U.S. businesses to measure AI's impact on jobs. We find: - Firms that adopt AI heavily grow headcount 10% over two years following adoption. Low adopters see no statistically significant change. - Entry-level hiring grows faster: 12% over two years. - These gains are concentrated in high adoption sectors, like tech. Our paper is out TODAY, but this is not my last word. We will update these results as more data comes in. Read our paper and explore your own job function: https://lnkd.in/ecKfqHKC Read my substack here: https://lnkd.in/eSQimwF9

Gartner just surveyed 350 large enterprises deploying AI. 80% cut jobs. Some by as much as 20%. The result? The companies that cut the most showed nearly identical financial returns to the ones that cut the least. In several cases, the ones that cut less performed better. No correlation between AI-driven layoffs and improved ROI. None. Gartner's Helen Poitevin was direct: "Workforce reductions may create budget room, but they do not create return." Cutting people frees up cash. It does not generate value. Most leadership teams are conflating the two. So what actually works? Upskilling staff to work alongside AI. Redesigning roles around what humans do well vs. what AI does well. Building operating models where people guide autonomous systems instead of getting replaced by them. There's a real difference between using AI to do the same work with fewer people and using AI to unlock work that was previously impossible. The first saves money on paper. The second compounds over time. We've already seen the pattern. Klarna cut 700 CS roles, watched quality decline, and started rehiring. IBM automated HR functions and reversed course. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia reversed 45 AI-driven layoffs after realizing those roles were never redundant. Gartner predicts half of companies that attributed headcount cuts to AI will rehire under new titles by 2027. If someone in your org is building an AI business case around headcount reduction, share this data. The assumption that fewer people equals better margins equals better returns is not supported by the evidence. AI is not leading to a jobs apocalypse. It's changing the shape of what people do. The companies that understand that difference will be the ones worth working for, and buying from, three years from now. Read the full piece on State of Brand here: https://lnkd.in/ggH-NXyM

Brutal career truth in the age of AI: knowledge alone is no longer enough. Pure specialists are exposed because AI can learn narrow domains faster than many people can defend them. Shallow generalists are exposed too because LLMs can already summarize, compare, and explain almost anything in seconds. So what is left when AI eats specialists and outperforms generalists? Not just more information. Better judgment. What stands out to me is this: The real career advantage is becoming a translator. Someone who can zoom in like a specialist, zoom out like a generalist, and connect technology to people, business, and outcomes. Because in the AI era, you will not win by simply knowing more. You will win by seeing better, deciding better, and being more human. What do you think will matter most for careers now: depth, breadth, or judgment? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #Careers #Upskilling #Leadership #HumanSkills #Workplace #DigitalTransformation

The Department of Labor released an AI Literacy Framework today, and it's really encouraging to see that the approach aligns closely with the work we're doing at AI for Education. The framework defines AI literacy with these foundational content areas: - Understanding AI principles - Exploring AI uses - Directing AI effectively - Evaluating outputs - Using AI responsibly What's notable is that the framework addresses both content and delivery, which we think about all the time. Beyond the foundational content areas, it emphasizes effective delivery principles like experiential learning, building agility, and developing complementary human skills. We also like that the framework doesn't focus primarily on risks or displacement. Instead, it positions AI as a tool that can support workers and open new opportunities when people have the right skills and support. It acknowledges real concerns about AI's workforce impact while focusing on actionable preparation. It's encouraging to see the DOL support the kind of practical, human-centered AI literacy work that we have seen work with our partners. You can find the link to the full framework in the comments. Let us know what you think. #AILiteracy #FutureOfWork #AIinEducation

More than half of U.S. professionals (56%) say they plan to look for a new job in 2026, yet 76% feel unprepared for the search. Our new hiring data helps to explain why the U.S. job market still feels sluggish as this new year begins: 📌 Hiring remains subdued. While national hiring accelerated 6% month-over-month in December, it’s still down just over 2% relative to a year ago and continues to be 20% slower than in pre‑pandemic times. 📈 Competition among job seekers remains elevated. U.S. applicants per open role have doubled since the Spring of 2022. And according to new research from LinkedIn, nearly two-thirds (64%) of people in the U.S. say finding a job has become more challenging, citing competition as the main hurdle, followed by uncertainty about which roles they’re qualified for and skills gaps. 📉 Worker confidence is low. Our Workforce Confidence Index continues to remain subdued, down -4 points in comparison to last year. Unsurprisingly, active job seekers are feeling the least confident, with their confidence levels hovering around all time lows. 📊 Certain corners of the labor market show signs of recovery. We saw hiring pick up year-over-year compared to December 2024 across industries like Manufacturing (+4%), Technology, Information and Media (+3%) and Entertainment Providers (+1%). And across metros, year-over-year hiring was strongest in Miami-Fort Lauderdale (+7%), and across the Midwest in Detroit (+6%), and Minneapolis-St. Paul (+5%). We've identified some of the fastest growing jobs across our platform and highlighted them in our new Jobs on the Rise list. Here are the key insights: 📍 AI continues to reshape the landscape. For the second year in a row, AI Engineers take the top spot, with additional AI-centric roles like AI Consultants, AI/ML Researchers and Data Annotators rounding out the list. This signals strong demand across both technical and AI-adjacent roles. 🔧 Jobs supporting AI infrastructure are growing. We’re seeing an influx of roles like Datacenter Technicians, Commissioning Managers, and Construction Project Leads, as they are essential to the expanding AI ecosystem. 📈 Entrepreneurial paths are increasingly common.  Founders, Independent Consultants and Strategic Advisors rank among LinkedIn's Jobs on the Rise, signaling more professionals are creating their own opportunities. In fact, over the last year, we’ve seen a 69% increase in LinkedIn members in the U.S. adding ‘founder’ to their profile.   📣 Sales and revenue roles remain essential. From roles like Field Marketing Representatives, and Advertising Sales Specialists to Fundraising Officers, businesses are continuing to invest in and hire for roles that help increase their bottom line, even as uncertainty persists. Even in a cooling labor market, opportunity is shifting, and better understanding where momentum is building can help job seekers feel more confident about their next move. https://lnkd.in/JOTR26US

I’m seeing some hot takes that AI assisted coding means that you don’t have to be technical anymore. That’s only gonna last you until the first database migration, or the first security issue, or the first cloud migration, or the first scale out, or the first major regression, or the first refactor that ends in slop. I am finding that I’m learning more and I have to be as technical or more technical than ever before to get the kinds of high-quality output that I expect of any code, regardless of whether it comes from my fingertips or someone else’s - including an AI. Whether your source comes from open source libraries, your own hands, or an AI via your clever prompt, there is exactly one responsible person for the output. That is you. I never want to be accused of gatekeeping AI assisted programming, as non-technical people can get a lot of interesting work done. Until they hit a wall, and it’s gonna surprise them how quickly they either need to get technical, or get a technical person to help untangle the mess they’ve made. The art and science of programming is taking intent and turning it into shipping products. I will never blame an AI - nor should you - for bad output. Own the code that you ship.

Small and medium-sized companies are the core of the global economy, making up 90% of businesses. On LinkedIn, there are more than 18 million businesses with under 200 employees – and the figures are rising. In the year to July, there was a 60% rise globally in the number of people launching their own businesses on LinkedIn, with above-average increases in the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Economic uncertainty is likely a factor in this, as people seek to control their own career path or go it alone in the face of a tougher jobs market. However, the rise of generative AI is also enabling people to set up their own business: more than 60% of small business leaders globally say starting and running a business is easier because of AI. In some ways, AI lowers the barriers to entry. "Any question you might have about building a business – where might I get funding? What do I need to set up? – you can ask AI," says Sarah Porretta, CEO of Young Enterprise, a global charity providing access and inspiration for the next generation of entrepreneurs. AI can also prove a source of inspiration for many aspects of a business, from coming up with names and logos to building a marketing plan. LinkedIn research suggests 85% of small businesses already use AI in some form, and four in 10 professionals globally say it has made them more likely to start their own businesses. People are also upskilling, with AI-related skills on the rise across Europe. In France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and UK, AI engineering is among the top three fastest-growing skills among those working at small businesses. In the UK and the Netherlands, AI literacy is the fastest-growing skill. Improving understanding and access to tools could help broaden opportunity. "Entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for social mobility, but access is often restricted to those with resources," says Porretta. "An AI pitch practice tool, for instance, is just one way people can build confidence and overcome one barrier." Have you ever considered starting your own business? Which entrepreneurs do you find most inspiring? Share your take in the comments.

The workplace your children enter won't look like today's. Every week brings a new headline about AI replacing entry level jobs. It’s more complex than the doom stories suggest, but we have seen signs that change is happening. Data from LinkedIn's Economic Graph shows a 70% year-on-year rise in job postings requiring AI literacy. And evidence from Stanford University indicates a drop in entry level hiring for AI-exposed roles like coding and customer service. Entry level tasks - the kind new starters used to cut their teeth on - are now the easiest for AI to automate. That means employers, educators and policymakers have to rethink how people start their careers, and how we equip every generation for success in this new world. History is clear: when general-purpose technologies emerge, they don’t just replace jobs. They actually create new ones. Think about the job you have today - would it have existed 40 years ago? The challenge is making sure we’re ready for them. The economic benefits flow to those countries that are quicker to adopt it. And I believe that we can seize this opportunity if we move fast and equip people with the right skills. But we will lose out if we don’t act now. My column in The Sunday Times today explores how Britain, and your children, could get ahead of the curve. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eyFqjWBP

Deloitte will issue a partial refund to the Australian Federal Government after admitting that AI had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors, including three non-existent academic references and a fabricated quote from a Federal Court judgment. It’s a headline that lands right at the heart of the transformation happening across the Professional Services industry. AI can now analyse summarise and even simulate insight at scale. But what it can’t yet do is know when to stop. When to question. When to say: ‘this doesn’t seem right.’ For all the talk of automation, this story is a reminder that the value of human advisors isn’t disappearing, it’s being redefined. AI will take thousands of junior roles in Professional Services firms, but senior judgement and quality assurance remain the last line of defence. In an era where a single model can generate a thousand pages of analysis almost instantly, the firms that win won’t just be those that move faster, they’ll be the ones that still think deeply. And this is exactly where the next generation of Partners will earn their keep. The best will become orchestrators, pairing technology’s scale with human discernment. They’ll know how to deploy AI inside the workflow without losing control of the narrative. Because when the model does the work, but the human still owns the outcome, that’s where trust, and value, still live.

The Agentic Enterprise is driving profound change across every industry, but nowhere are the stakes higher than in healthcare. There is an incredible opportunity to elevate the work of healthcare professionals and deliver stronger care for patients around the world. In an essay for TIME, Murali Doraiswamy, professor of medicine at Duke University, and I discuss how AI is revolutionizing medicine, including: • Flagging subtle abnormalities in scans and slides that a human eye might miss. • Speeding up the discovery of drugs and drug targets. • Providing patients faster and more personalized support, from scheduling to flagging side effects But we’ve also seen that over-reliance on AI can lead to “deskilling” — in which medical professionals become less effective. That underscores the importance of approaches that keep humans at the center, such as the Intelligent Choice Architecture (ICA), where AI systems don’t make decisions but nudge providers to take a second look at results, weigh alternatives, and stay actively engaged in the process. The future of work is humans and AI agents working together. If we commit to designing systems that sharpen our abilities, we can combine the promise of AI with the critical thinking, compassion, and real-world judgment that only humans bring. https://lnkd.in/gqkTUfb6