Has AI impacted the labor market yet?

Evaluating the state of the evidence

Alex Imas and Jacob SchaalSep 29, 202656916ShareWritten with Jacob Schaal, subscribe to his blog here. All opinions are our own and do not reflect those of our employers.

The current version reflects research available through Ocotber 2026.

In a previous post, Alex and Soumitra Shukla argued that exposure indices alone cannot predict labor market displacement. This post reviews the empirical evidence on whether there are signs of displacement and, if so, where it is occurring. We should stress that the article is a “now-cast” in the sense that it is meant to reflect how AI is impacting the economy right now rather than forecast potential disruption in the future.