Many Young People Think AI Is Taking Their Jobs. But Data Suggests It Is Not Massive Yet.

More than a quarter of young people think AI is costing people jobs, even if the impact of the technology on job loss remains relatively small so far, according to a new survey.

An Axios poll found that 27 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds said that either they or someone they knew had lost a job due to AI. But despite the perception that AI is causing job displacement, there has so far been little data suggesting that the reality.

In fact, a study by Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research evaluated the unemployment rate for people whose jobs should be exposed to the most risk from AI. The study found that the unemployment rate for AI-exposed workers had risen 0.77 percentage points since 2022. By comparison, the unemployment rate for the least-exposed workers went up 0.85 percentage points over the same time period.

"These aggregate trends suggest a broadly softening labor market, rather than one characterized by AI-driven job losses," the study stated.

Regardless, the Axios poll found that a large segment of younger people believe that AI is destroying the labor market and taking people's jobs. That perception is bleeding over into how they view the world and how they view their future prospects.

Nearly half, 48 percent, rated the economy as poor. And, 35 percent believe that if they had to look for a job, finding a new job would be very difficult, the survey found.

When asked which party they trusted to lower the cost of living, the top answer among young people was neither at 36 percent. By comparison, only 26 percent chose Democrats and 22 percent selected Republicans.

"They're kind of thumbs-down on everything — how the president's doing, how the economy's doing, both political parties," Generation Lab CEO Cyrus Beschloss told the outlet. "AI is a pretty big disruptor; it's easy to point to one faceless thing as the cause."

Regardless of the pessimistic feelings, AI actually has had little impact on the job market, according to Stanford.

"Employment trends in occupations with high exposure to AI are fairly stable. While employment growth in coding-heavy occupations has slowed somewhat, it remains positive," Stanford found. "There is no evidence that AI adoption has negatively impacted firms' job postings. Indeed, online job postings for software developers — a very highly exposed occupation — have been growing faster than for other occupations over the last year."

In fact, the Stanford study suggested that AI might actually be fueling some job growth. The study reported that companies that had adopted enterprise AI, employment grew by 10 percent in the two years following adoption.

The survey found that despite nearly half saying the economy was poor, 71 percent of respondents said that they were as comfortable more comfortable compared to a year ago.