The Number Of Unemployed It Workers Grew By 54,000 In A Month. An Expert Says Ai Is To Blame.

The tech labour marketplace is experiencing unemployment higher than average, and artificial intelligence is astir apt to blame.

Consulting diligent Janco Associates analyzed information from nan U.S. Department of Labor and recovered that nan number of unemployed IT workers accrued by 54,000 from December 2024 to January 2025 — location were 98,000 unemployed IT workers successful December compared to 152,000 successful January.

Related: AI Could Replace 200,000 Jobs connected Wall Street, According to a New Report. These Are nan Jobs Most astatine Risk.

The unemployment title for tech workers accrued from 3.9% successful December to 5.7% successful January, supra nan 4% mean unemployment complaint for each industries.

Is AI to Blame?

Victor Janulaitis, main executive of Janco Associates, told nan Wall Street Journal that rising unemployment successful tech tin beryllium attributed to nan maturation of AI.

While tech giants for illustration Meta and Microsoft are spending billions of dollars building AI infrastructure, they aren't devoting nan aforesaid amounts of superior to creating caller IT jobs. Instead, they dream to move value jobs pinch AI.

"Jobs are being eliminated incorrect nan IT usability which are regular and mundane, specified arsenic reporting, clerical administration," Janulaitis told nan Journal. "As [tech companies] commencement looking astatine AI, they're too looking astatine reducing nan number of programmers, systems designers, hoping that AI is going to beryllium tin to proviso them immoderate worthy and personification a bully title of return."

As tech companies dream that AI will move jobs and proviso a bully return connected investment, they are decreasing their hiring efforts. Cory Stahle, an economist for nan hiring level Indeed, told nan Journal that caller Indeed business postings successful package betterment dropped 8.5% successful January compared to a twelvemonth prior.

Related: Salesforce CEO Says nan Company's New AI Agents Could Replace Human Jobs

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed past play successful a reside pinch Joe Rogan that Meta is moving connected AI that tin represent codification and move mid-level value engineers astatine nan company. Meta is moving towards having institution codification "built by AI engineers alternatively of group engineers," Zuckerberg said.

Major tech companies personification too conducted layoffs successful January. Amazon announced successful January that it was laying disconnected dozens of labour successful its communications and sustainability departments while costs level Stripe successful nan aforesaid period laid disconnected 300 labor successful product, engineering, and operations.

Google, meanwhile, offered buyouts successful January, giving labour connected nan platforms and devices squad nan action to judge a severance package of undisclosed worthy if they chose to clip disconnected nan institution of their ain will.

Related: JPMorgan Says Its AI Cash Flow Software Cut Human Work By Almost 90%