Key facts
- Goldman Sachs economist Pierfrancesco Mei wrote that AI-displaced workers take about a month longer to find new jobs.
- The bank's note said AI-displaced workers are roughly 10 percentage points more likely to remain unemployed a year after displacement.
- Goldman Sachs analyzed data on more than 15,000 displaced workers laid off between 2016 and 2025.
- Younger AI-displaced workers took about three weeks longer to return to full-time work; older workers took about five weeks longer.
- Mei said AI-displaced workers increasingly move into roles with similar or higher AI exposure after reemployment.
- Goldman Sachs earlier predicted 9% of workers will be displaced by AI, up from a prior 6% to 7% forecast.
Workers whose jobs are displaced by artificial intelligence face a harder route back into employment than other displaced workers, according to a Goldman Sachs research note published in October 2026. Pierfrancesco Mei, a US economist at the bank, wrote that such workers take about a month longer to find new jobs and are roughly 10 percentage points more likely to remain unemployed a year after displacement.
Mei's team analyzed data covering more than 15,000 displaced workers who lost jobs between 2016 and 2025. The analysts said their 2023 to 2025 data likely covers the first wave of workers displaced by AI. Younger AI-displaced workers took about three weeks longer than other displaced workers to return to full-time employment, compared with about five weeks longer for older workers, according to the note.
The note also found that AI-displaced workers are significantly more likely to leave their prior occupation and industry altogether. Mei wrote that upon reemployment, these workers, especially older ones, have increasingly moved into roles with similar or even higher AI exposure. The analysts also observed that college students appear to be choosing majors with less exposure to AI disruption, including healthcare and engineering over computer science.
Separately, Goldman Sachs predicted earlier in October that 9% of workers will be displaced by AI in the coming years, up from its prior forecast of 6% to 7%.