Adecco dismisses AI job fears, warns cuts may mask weak performance
The world's largest staffing firm has challenged the narrative that AI is driving mass layoffs, warning investors that companies may be using the technology to obscure poor financials as OECD data shows employment at record highs.
Adecco Group has pushed back against claims that artificial intelligence will trigger widespread job losses. The world's largest staffing company argued instead that the technology is frequently used as a convenient excuse for redundancies driven by poor underlying business performance.
The Zurich-based firm released a study on Thursday citing Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data showing employment rates across its 38 member countries at record highs. Unemployment in these nations remains near historic lows, covering the three and a half years since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022. This macroeconomic stability suggests AI is currently augmenting labor rather than acting as a pure substitute on a broad scale.
“AI is bringing a massive evolution in the world of work, but a job apocalypse is not on the horizon,” Adecco CEO Denis Machuel said. “It’s more about changing roles and tasks than eliminating jobs.”
Machuel’s assessment carries significant weight for market professionals parsing recent earnings calls and restructuring announcements. Global giants including Microsoft, HSBC, Amazon and Standard Chartered have all announced layoffs while simultaneously ramping up AI investments. Machuel suggested executives are leveraging the prevailing AI narrative to obscure job cuts that are actually caused by straightforward restructuring or weak financial results.
For equity analysts, this distinction is critical. If layoffs are framed as efficiency gains from AI, they typically merit a higher valuation multiple. If they are merely cost-cutting measures masking declining demand or operational failures, the market reaction should be more cautious.
While broad job destruction is not evident in the aggregate data, Machuel acknowledged that entry-level positions are actively vanishing. He warned that corporations cannot simply eliminate junior roles without ultimately degrading their long-term talent pipelines. Companies must instead reinvent these positions so AI can complement human workers, necessitating significant investment in upskilling and reskilling.
“Previous industrial revolutions from the advent of steam, electricity, information technology and the internet have transformed work without causing mass job destruction,” he said. “With the data we have so far, there’s no evidence we will have a different scenario with AI.”
Adecco’s report lands amid escalating global debate over AI regulation. Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that AI is advancing faster than governments and regulators can manage, urging coordinated global governance to ensure the technology is deployed safely.
