Statsguru: How AI integration is reshaping jobs and wages across sectors

As companies rapidly integrate artificial intelligence(AI) into core business processes, labour demand is being restructured across sectors. This shift gained urgency after AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton recently warned that massive job cuts could emerge as early as 2026, particularly in roles most exposed to automation. Technology companies, which are at the forefront of AI deployment, are already adjusting workforce strategies — offering early signals of a broader labour market realignment.

 

Global tech layoffs declined in numbers in 2025. However, the average number of employees laid off per company rose sharply from about 221 in 2023 to nearly 517 in 2025, pointing to deeper, more concentrated restructuring as firms pursue AI-led efficiency gains (Chart 1). 

 

Layoffs are no longer confined to software and IT services. Hardware accounts for over 31 per cent of employees laid off in 2025, followed by retail and consumer-oriented sectors, indicating that AI adoption is reshaping production, logistics and customer-facing operations alongside digital functions (Chart 2). 

 

As AI adoption replaces routine roles, hiring is increasingly shifting toward AI-specific skills. As a result, AI talent recruitments grew  faster  across countries in 2024, with India recording the highest share of AI hiring globally (Chart 3). 

 

Industries most exposed to AI have recorded wage growth of nearly 17 per cent since 2018 — more than double that of least-exposed sectors — highlighting how AI is reinforcing wage differentiation across the labour market (Chart 4). 

 

AI skill penetration in India is the highest. This places India among a group of countries with a rapidly expanding AI skill base (Chart 5). 

 

Net AI talent flows show continued outflows from India in 2024, pointing to strong international demand for AI skills and intensifying competition among countries to attract and retain specialised talent (Chart 6).