Artificial intelligence is shaking up employment and making many employees around the world feel terrified of being made redundant. A study by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel has objectively scrutinized how AI is reshaping the composition of the unemployed in Israel.
The researchers – Michael Debowy, Prof. Gil Epstein, and Prof. Avi Weiss – found that while AI’s impact on overall unemployment remains limited, it is already changing who becomes unemployed. AI explains part of the shift in the occupational distribution of the unemployed between 2022 and 2025, particularly since the second half of 2024.
They found that its impact is concentrated in occupations that previously enjoyed very strong demand, low layoff rates, and persistent vacancies. These occupations, which had especially low unemployment rates in 2022, are now experiencing the most pronounced increases in relative unemployment.
Hi-tech unemployment increases
Epstein, head of the labor market policy program at the Taub Center, explained: “The era of hi-tech workers’ immunity is over. Our data shows that AI is ripping the cards. It explains about a fifth of the increase in programmer unemployment and locks the door mainly on young people. While veteran staffers become more efficient with the help of the machine, the ‘juniors’ are the first to pay the price. Those who wait for a change and don’t rush to upgrade their skills here and now will simply be left behind.”
