Employment Data
Jobs
Claims that AI is driving mass job loss repeat long-standing technological fears while ignoring historical evidence and comprehensive labor market data.
Facts
- •AI-exposed occupations are growing faster and paying more: According to the Vanguard Report (2026), jobs with high AI exposure grew 1.7% vs. 0.8% economy-wide, while real wages rose 3.8% vs. 0.7% overall, indicating AI correlates with stronger labor outcomes.
- •AI accounts for a small fraction of layoffs: Challenger, Gray & Christmas data shows only 4.7% of 2025 layoffs were attributed to AI, with most reductions driven by conventional business factors rather than automation.
- •No discernible labor market disruption observed: A Yale Budget Lab study found no measurable negative impact on employment in the 33 months following ChatGPT's release, contradicting predictions of rapid displacement.
- •AI is contributing meaningfully to economic growth: David Sacks has cited AI as driving up to 50% of recent GDP growth, including a construction boom that increased wages 25–30%, demonstrating downstream job creation.
- •Headline AI layoff spikes are statistical outliers: Government and layoff tracking data show the widely cited October AI-related layoffs fell 53% in November (to ~6,280), indicating volatility rather than a trend.