When employers adopt artificial intelligence in the workplace, they’re more likely to train workers on the technology than replace them with it, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded in an analysis released Sept. 4.
Businesses responding to a survey reported an increase in AI use over the past year, but very few firms reported related layoffs, the Fed found. Instead, employers said they’re retraining employees.
AI adoption has, however, affected hiring: Some companies have reduced hiring due to AI, and some have added workers with AI skills.
A handful of employers predicted AI layoffs in the near future, although the Fed cautioned that projection “is perhaps tempered by the fact that in last year’s survey about the same share expected to lay off workers, when in fact very few did so this year.”
AI use varied by industry, with more than half of firms in the information, finance, and professional and business services industries saying they used the tech. Less than half in the wholesale, leisure and hospitality, education and health, personal services and retail industries used AI. No agriculture sector respondents reported using the technology.
Fed researchers and analysts said these changes are unlikely to have any major, immediate effect on the job market. “While our surveys indicate that firms using AI have made adjustments to their workforces due to AI, it is important to keep in mind that they apply only to the 25 to 40 percent of firms that are using it,” they wrote in an analysis of the findings. “Thus, any implied economywide labor market impacts are likely to be relatively modest, and at least so far, do not point to significant reductions in employment, particularly since employment effects can be both positive and negative.”
