The damage from artificial intelligence in the job market is not spread evenly across the economy. It is concentrated in a handful of industries and falls hardest on the people trying to get their first job.

Goldman Sachs published the findings Wednesday in a report titled “Global Economics Comment: Is AI Impacting Global Labor Markets?” The bank found that industries more exposed to AI automation have seen slower growth in job openings since the second half of 2022, with the effect most pronounced in the United States, Germany and Australia.

The onset of generative AI tools, the report said, “may have led companies in highly exposed industries to reevaluate their hiring plans.”

The clearest casualty is the call center. Call center employment in the U.S. now runs 39% below where the long-run trend says it should be. Canada is 33% below, Germany 27%. That is not subtle. Roughly two out of every five call center jobs that would ordinarily exist in America are not there.

Software publishing, management consulting and advertising show the same pattern, and employment across information and communication services has slowed in nearly every major developed economy since 2022. Outside the U.S., however, employment in those industries still sits near or above its long-run trend — meaning American workers in these fields are absorbing more of the hit than their counterparts abroad.

The age split is the sharpest finding. Across more than 800 occupations, a 10% level of AI exposure costs about 0.1 percentage points of annual headcount growth overall in the U.S., France and Canada. For entry-level roles in the U.S., that drag runs above 0.2 points — double the effect. The work that used to train a new hire, summarizing documents, drafting first passes, answering routine calls, is precisely the work software now does for a fraction of the cost.

The scale is real but not catastrophic. Goldman’s earlier research estimated AI was trimming about 16,000 jobs a month from U.S. payroll growth, later revised to roughly 11,000 by June as hiring in construction and other less-exposed sectors offset the losses. That reflects roughly 25,000 positions displaced monthly against about 9,000 created around AI tools. Set against an economy that typically adds 150,000 to 250,000 jobs a month in an expansion, AI is shaving off something on the order of 1 in 20 of those gains.

Goldman economists also note a counterweight: when technology cuts the cost of producing something, buyers often want more of it, which pulls workers back in. Hiring tied to data center construction and broader productivity gains is not captured in the bank’s current estimate.

The practical read for anyone entering the workforce is to look at exposure, not headlines. Call centers, entry-level marketing and junior consulting are contracting. Construction, skilled trades, healthcare and the physical buildout supporting AI itself are not. The pressure, Goldman concludes, is measurable and visible in the data — but still confined to a relatively narrow set of industries and workers.

For now.

JBizNews Desk | New York

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