Goldman Sachs estimates AI is costing the US 16,000 jobs per month

Goldman Sachs Research put a number on what many workers already suspected: AI is eating jobs faster than it creates them. The bank’s April 2026 report estimates that artificial intelligence has reduced monthly US payroll growth by roughly 16,000 positions over the past year, enough to nudge the unemployment rate up by 0.1 percentage points. That 16,000 figure is a net number, which makes the underlying churn even more dramatic. Goldman estimates that AI augmentation effects, think new roles created around AI tools, productivity-adjacent hiring, and complementary positions, have added about 9,000 jobs per month. The substitution side of the ledger, where AI simply replaces human labor, is considerably larger. Do the math and the gross displacement figure lands somewhere around 25,000 jobs per month before the offsetting gains. Who’s getting hit hardest The pain is not evenly distributed. Technology, management consulting, graphic design, and customer service are the industries feeling the most pressure, according to the Goldman research. Gen Z and entry-level white-collar workers are bearing a disproportionate share of the displacement. This is particularly notable because prior wa...