An analysis published by The Economist estimated that approximately 1 million U.S. jobs have been created in connection with the AI boom, compared with roughly 200,000 layoffs attributed to the technology since mid-2023.
That works out to approximately five new jobs for every job eliminated — at least according to the publication’s estimates.
The comparison comes with an important caveat.
Those figures were calculated using different methodologies and therefore cannot be treated as a direct jobs-created-versus-jobs-destroyed scoreboard.
Still, the numbers offer an important counterweight to predictions that AI would quickly unleash mass unemployment across the country.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that American employers cited artificial intelligence in 116,175 announced job cuts through August 2026, representing roughly 22% of all announced cuts this year. Since Challenger began separately tracking AI in 2023, companies have attributed approximately 188,000 announced layoffs to the technology.
Yet the overall U.S. labor market has not experienced anything resembling an AI-driven employment collapse.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers added 162,000 jobs in August, while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%.
Some of the biggest gains connected to the AI revolution may be occurring in places that receive considerably less attention than Silicon Valley.
The Economist examined employment among engineers, software developers, mathematicians and data scientists and estimated that those occupations have generated approximately 730,000 more jobs since 2022 than would have been expected based on broader professional employment trends.
Not every one of those positions can necessarily be credited to artificial intelligence.
But companies are increasingly searching for AI engineers, data annotators and specialized employees capable of deploying and customizing AI systems for customers.
Entirely new corporate positions are appearing as well, including executives responsible for overseeing AI strategy.
LinkedIn separately estimated that approximately 640,000 AI-specific positions were created between 2023 and 2025, according to The Economist.
Preliminary research from Burning Glass Institute Chief Economist Gad Levanon reportedly found that positions that effectively would not exist without AI now represent approximately 1% of American professional employment.
In computer and life-sciences occupations, that figure could already be between 4% and 5%.
Even some white-collar occupations once widely portrayed as obvious casualties of generative AI have continued adding workers.
Employment among paralegals reportedly climbed approximately 11% from 2023 through 2025, while market-research analyst employment increased about 6%. Overall U.S. employment grew roughly 2% during that period.
Then there is the enormous physical infrastructure required to keep America’s AI systems running.
AI does not exist solely in the cloud.
It requires enormous data centers filled with servers, electrical equipment and cooling systems — and somebody has to build, install and maintain all of it.
Data-center job postings have more than doubled since 2023, according to Indeed Hiring Lab. Roughly one-quarter of openings were for installation and maintenance workers.
The pay can be significant as well.
Hourly installation positions at data centers reportedly advertised median wages approximately 42% higher — about $10 more per hour — than comparable positions elsewhere.
Private data-center construction spending reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $59.3 billion in May, according to Census Bureau figures cited by Indeed.
That spending is producing opportunities far beyond computer programming.
Electricians, plumbers, welders, construction workers and fiber technicians are increasingly becoming part of America’s AI economy.
Meta recognized that demand when it announced a $115 million workforce initiative in June designed to train Americans for skilled-trade positions supporting data-center construction.
Electricity represents another major piece of the puzzle.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects utilities will be the fastest-growing major U.S. industry sector between 2025 and 2035, with employment rising 9.8%, equivalent to approximately 58,800 additional jobs.
Nearly all of that expansion is expected to come from electric power generation, transmission and distribution as America’s electricity requirements increase — including demand generated by AI infrastructure.
BLS also projects employment among computing infrastructure providers, data-processing companies and web-hosting businesses to increase 25.1% through 2035, creating approximately 120,400 jobs.
The result is an American labor market being rearranged by AI rather than simply erased by it.
“Hiring has also increased over last year by 25%, so while AI is shifting the labor market, it is not dismantling it,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in the firm’s July jobs report.
That does not mean every worker will benefit.
Microsoft and other major technology companies have announced thousands of layoffs while simultaneously pouring enormous sums into artificial intelligence.
Administrative workers could face particularly serious pressure.
BLS projects office and administrative-support employment will decline 4% through 2035, eliminating approximately 752,100 positions. Automation, including generative AI capable of performing repetitive office work, is expected to contribute to weakening demand for several occupations.
The transition therefore carries real winners and losers.
But the numbers emerging so far challenge the simplest version of the AI apocalypse narrative.
America may lose some traditional office positions while gaining AI engineers, data specialists, electricians, construction workers, power-industry employees and entirely new occupations that barely existed several years ago.
The question increasingly isn’t simply whether AI will destroy jobs.
It’s what kinds of jobs America will need as AI transforms the economy — and whether American workers can acquire the skills necessary to fill them.
