AI has led to 87,000 job losses in the US: what will happen to the labour market?
This is according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a study by the World Economic Forum, data from the KSE Institute and statistics from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.
In 2026, artificial intelligence became one of the main reasons cited by American companies for staff reductions. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, US employers announced 97,006 redundancies in May. Companies directly attributed nearly 40 per cent of these to AI.
By comparison, in January, such redundancies accounted for just 7 per cent of the total. In the first five months of 2026, artificial intelligence had already led to 87,714 job cuts in the US. This is more than in the whole of 2025, when companies attributed 54,836 redundancies to AI.
The technology sector saw the most redundancies. In May, it lost 38,242 jobs, and over 123,000 since the start of the year. Companies attribute this to costs, automation and investment in new technologies.
Office-based roles involving many repetitive digital tasks have come under the greatest pressure. These include administrative roles, analytics, back-office functions, customer support, and some financial, operational and technical roles.
Entry-level roles for young workers pose a particular risk. According to the World Economic Forum, 37 per cent of young workers worldwide are employed in roles where AI has a medium or high level of impact on their work tasks. In some regions, this figure may reach as high as three in four young workers.
This implies not only the risk of redundancies but also the rapid obsolescence of certain skills. According to the WEF’s estimates, 28 per cent of entry-level employees believe that within three years, at least half of their current skills may become obsolete.
However, AI does not always actually replace people more effectively. Some companies use it as an argument for cost optimisation or to explain job cuts to investors. In practice, automation can malfunction, and businesses still need experienced specialists to monitor the systems, train junior staff and ensure the quality of decisions.
Global statistics also do not indicate a complete collapse of the labour market. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, in May 2026 the number of non-farm jobs rose by 172,000, whilst the unemployment rate remained at 4.3 per cent.
In Ukraine, the situation differs from that in the US. There are no detailed monthly statistics on redundancies specifically due to AI, and the labour market is already experiencing a labour shortage because of the war. Therefore, the risk of people being replaced en masse by artificial intelligence is not yet a major threat.
According to data from the KSE Institute, in June 2026 analysts recorded 213,000 active civilian job vacancies from the Unified Job Portal, Work.ua, robota.ua, DOU, Djinni and other sources. The assessment showed that generative AI could change the skill requirements for around 40 per cent of vacancies, but full automation affects only 2.3 per cent of the demand for workers. The main challenge at present is not the mass disappearance of professions, but a shift in job requirements. Employees will have to learn how to use AI tools, verify their results and carry out tasks that require responsibility, experience and human judgement.
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