AI adoption uneven across developed economies, hiring slowdown in exposed sectors: report
AI adoption in major developed economies ranges from 15–20%, with France, US, Netherlands and UK leading, while emerging markets record 10–15%, a Goldman Sachs Research report says.
Artificial intelligence adoption across major developed economies varies between 15 and 20 per cent, with France, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom at the upper end of that range, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Research. Major emerging markets, by contrast, have recorded adoption rates of 10 to 15 per cent.
The research found that industries more exposed to automation have seen a slowdown in job openings since the second half of 2022, a trend most evident in Germany, Australia and the United States. The report suggests that the arrival of generative AI tools may have prompted firms in highly exposed industries to reassess their hiring plans.
Employment growth has slowed notably in information and communication services, call centres, software publishing and advertising. In the US, headcount in information and communication services has fallen below its long-run trend, while other developed economies remain near or above historical trends. The report describes these patterns as evidence that tech-sector hiring headwinds are global, though the most pronounced negative effects are in the US.
Subsector data show sharp contractions: call centre employment is 39 per cent below trend in the US, 33 per cent below trend in Canada and 27 per cent below trend in Germany. The report notes that these declines appear in industries where labour-automating tools are already available.
Despite these sector-specific effects, broader macroeconomic impacts remain muted. An evaluation of occupational exposure across more than 800 occupations found that a 10 per cent increase in occupational exposure translates into a drag of only 0.1 percentage point on annual headcount growth in the US, France and Canada. The report concludes that economy-wide hiring headwinds remain limited, though entry-level workers face greater obstacles as firms integrate automated solutions. Overall, the impacts are concentrated in a narrow set of industries and workers.