AI Isn't Killing Jobs. It's Sorting Them.

A really solid meta-analysis just dropped on AI's impact on labor markets. And the findings might surprise you. Here's what stood out most.

The Real Story

Here's the thing nobody in this debate is saying: AI barely moves the total. It explodes the gap. It isn't creating jobs or killing them on net. Not meaningfully from a macro perspective yet. It's sorting them.

AI is a leverage machine. And the sort is just that leverage, handed out unevenly.

The Spending Gap

The top 1% of companies spend $7,449 per employee per month on AI. The median company spends $11.38.

Read that again. That's not a gap. That's a chasm. And if you're wondering whether AI is really coming for your job, this spending disparity tells you where the leverage is actually going.

Beyond Tech

AI hiring isn't a tech story. More than half of these roles sit outside core tech. 21% in manufacturing alone, plus finance, education, healthcare. This is spreading everywhere.

If you're looking for high ROI AI use cases, they're showing up in industries you might not expect.

What's Next

Sorting is just the first move. Right now AI is mostly reshuffling jobs, not creating or destroying them on net. That won't hold.

The current equilibrium is temporary. We're in the early innings of a much bigger shift.

The Takeaway

AI isn't the job killer or job creator the headlines make it out to be. It's a sorting mechanism that's widening the gap between companies that invest heavily and those that don't. The spending disparity alone tells you where this is headed.

The question isn't whether AI will impact your work. It's whether you'll be on the leveraged side of the sort or the other side.

Pay attention to the data. The shift is already happening.