Is AI undermining labor market intelligence?

Weekly Updates

Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is accompanied by fear about AI’s employment consequences. This is not uncommon with new technology. Technology is supposed to improve efficiency—and doing more with less sometimes means doing more with less employment in a specific sector, even as technology creates new jobs in different sectors.
Some AI disruption is already visible in technology employment data. Around the world, employment in technology sectors seems to have stalled over the past year. While large-scale technology job losses are still limited, it seems as if technology companies are delaying recruitment while they consider whether AI might make some jobs obsolete in the future.
AI is also creating complications in measuring the labor market. AI has made it easier for candidates to make multiple job applications than was the case in the past. AI may also allow more job applications to be processed—lowering the cost of “speculative” job adverts (looking to see who might be available). The result is more applications per candidate and potentially more job adverts.
The distortions that AI makes will undermine the use of “big data” labor market information, making historical comparisons difficult. This is frustrating at a time when collapsing survey response rates make official data less representative and more guesswork.