BartekSzewczyk | Getty ImagesWhile artificial intelligence has caused turbulence in the labor market, the recent decline in job opportunities has more to do with economic uncertainty, experts say."As we look across the broader labor market, we see that AI's impact on the labor market has still been fairly small," said Cory Stahle, a senior economist at Indeed, a job site.
"The important asterisk is that that doesn't mean that it has been zero," he said.
Mandi Woodruff-Santos, a career coach, agrees: "I don't think AI is to blame, I think the economic uncertainty is to blame."The state of the job marketThe job market has not been good in recent months, whether you're looking for a job or currently employed.The U.S.
economy added 22,000 jobs for the month of August, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Friday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for payrolls to rise by 75,000.Of those who are still employed, some are "job hugging," or "holding onto their job for dear life," according to an August report by Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm.But others are "quiet cracking," which is a "persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance, and an increased desire to quit," according to cloud learning platform TalentLMS.Growing economic uncertainty has kept workers from quitting their jobs and has led es to slow down hiring decisions, experts say."No knows what the heck the Trump administration is going to do next with the economy," said Woodruff-Santos.
"And in this kind of economic climate, companies are not sure of anything, and so they're being very conservative with the way that they're hiring," she said.How artificial intelligence is impacting the labor forceWhile some companies have announced layoffs to pursue AI nologies in their organizations, most of the impact has been isolated in the industry, said Indeed's Stahle.
Most recently, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the company laid off 4,000 customer support roles, due to advancements in the company's use of artificial intelligence software.Other studies show that AI has mostly affected younger workers rather than mid-career employees.
An August report by Stanford University fessors found that early-career workers (ages 22 to 25) in the most AI-exposed occupations experienced a 13% decline in employment.
On the flip side, employment for workers in less-exposed fields and more experienced workers in the same occupations has either stayed the same or grown.The study also found that employment declines are concentrated in occupations "where AI is more ly to automate rather than augment human labor." More from Personal Finance:Why coffee prices are so highRecord numbers of retirement rs are now 401(k) or IRA millionaires68 jobs may qualify for Trump's $25,000 'no tax on tips' deductionYet, the industry itself is not a large sector, said Stahle.
According to a March 2025 analysis by non-fit trade association CompTIA, or the Computing nology Industry Association, "net employment" made up 5.8% of the overall workforce.Net- employment is a designation that represents all those employed in the industry, including workers in nical positions such as cybersecurity and fessionals employed by nology companies, as well as full-time and self-employed nology workers.For AI-driven layoffs to be considered a broad threat to the job market, the nology needs to start impacting other sectors, such as retail and marketing, said Stahle.'We're seeing more and more demand for AI skills'Some predictions on AI's workforce impact argue that employers may be more ly to retrain workers rather than lay them off, according to a new report by the Brookings Institute, a public policy think tank."AI may be more ly to augment rather than fully replace human workers," the wrote.In fact, "we're seeing more and more demand for AI skills," said Stahle.watch now5:2305:23Roger Ferguson on August jobs report: A September rate cut 'may be appriate'Squawk BoxIf you have the opportunity, experts say, it's smart to learn how your field and employer are using AI.
"You'd be foolish not to do the re into your own field," and understand how AI can be a tool in your industry, said Woodruff-Santos.
Look for training grams or webinars where you can participate or free trials of AI tools you can use, she said.