Vast majority of executives expect AI layoffs soon, survey says

Corporate execs are prepped and ready to cut their workforces down due to AI in the next two years, according to a new corporate survey of the job market.

Conducted by the Mercer consulting firm, the global report surveyed 12,000 respondents across upper-level management, human resources, and lower-level employees.

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More than 99 percent of executives surveyed for the report said they expect AI "to lead to at least some headcount reduction in the next two years." In addition, fully 98 percent of executives said they were "planning organization design changes in the next two years." And, when compared to other employees, C-Suite-level execs were much more focused on figuring out how to incorporate AI and automation.

So far this year, Amazon, Atlassian, Block, Fiverr, Pinterest, and Snap have announced layoffs related to AI, and an estimated 50,000 AI layoffs occurred in 2025.

Not every exec believes the shifting job market is cause for alarm. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon recently penned a New York Times opinion piece calling the "AI job apocalypse" overblown. "The United States has a long track record of creating new jobs in response to disruption," Solomon wrote. "The historical pattern is clear: The U.S. economy can and will adapt to major advances in technology."

A recent study conducted by the Harvard Business School found that generative AI is actually increasing demand for jobs in "augmentation-prone" roles in the short term, and that workforce reductions are primarily hitting finance and tech sectors.

But only a third of execs told the consulting firm they believe human and machine capabilities can be effectively combined in workforces at large. Employee satisfaction is still a concern, as well. Amid worsening workforce and economic anxiety, more than a third of employees said they would consider leaving their jobs if they felt disadvantaged when it came to AI, according to the trend report.

According to a September Pew Research Center survey, 21 percent of Americans said their work is partially done with AI. While the larger majority of American workers (65 percent) still say AI hasn't encroached on their jobs, AI integration is increasingly affecting younger, early-career employees and college graduates.

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