The impact of AI on the job market is starting to show up in the data analyzed by Wall Street firms — so far it’s pretty modest, but certainly real.
What they found: AI has both created and destroyed jobs over the past year.
- It reduced employment in occupations that are easily substituted by AI, translating to a slight 0.16 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate.
- At the same time, AI decreased unemployment by 0.06 point in jobs that are “augmented” by AI — roles that rely on things that machines cannot replace, like human judgment, interpersonal interaction and accountability.
Zoom out: Overall, AI raised the unemployment rate by just 0.1 percentage point, they find.
The article goes on to explain that there are two sides to AI. It was help some professions and eliminate others…
The bottom line: AI’s impact on the labor market is small so far, and it’s more complicated than the doomers want you to think.