US Faces Major Job Losses in AI-Exposed Fields
In 2025, various occupations in the United States projected to be influenced by artificial intelligence witnessed considerable job losses for the second consecutive year, with customer service representatives and certain types of secretaries and sales personnel leading the trend. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has identified a cohort of 18 occupations at risk from AI, encompassing around 10 million jobs, which saw a 0.2 percent decrease in employment from May 2024 to May 2025, according to the annual data released on Friday. This indicates an increase in total employment of 0.8 percent over the corresponding period.
Aside from the swiftly growing segment of medical secretaries and assistants, associated with the ongoing expansion of the healthcare industry, employment across the other 17 occupations experienced a decrease of 1.6 percent for the second year in a row. The data indicate that the adoption of AI tools in American workplaces may be catalyzing a substantial shift in employment trends. A report released on Thursday by Goldman Sachs economists indicates that “occupations highly exposed to AI substitution have seen openings fall below pre-pandemic levels, while those exposed to AI augmentation or less exposed to AI have seen job openings fall more gradually.”
The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release indicates that employment for customer service representatives fell by 130,180, marking a 4.8 percent decline in the year ending May 2025. The number of secretaries and assistants, excluding those in medical, legal, and executive positions, fell by 31,030, indicating a decrease of 1.8 percent. In the interim, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, excluding those associated with technical and scientific products, experienced a decline of 28,670, representing a decrease of 2.3 percent.
Since May 2022 — the most recent data point prior to the introduction of ChatGPT by OpenAI later that year — the occupations experiencing the most significant declines among the 18 include credit authorizers, checkers and clerks (down 26.2 percent), broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys (down 20.8 percent), and sales engineers (down 13.2 percent). Although the data offer preliminary insights into the impact of AI on employment, the BLS cautioned in its November 2024 article discussing the 18 occupations that the list “should not be considered exhaustive or definitive,” but instead comprises “examples in which a reasonable expectation of an AI-driven impact currently exists.”
