More Automation Leads Job Numbers For May

InnovationAIMore Automation Leads Job Numbers For MayByJohn Werner,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I am an MIT Senior Fellow & Lecturer, 5x-founder & VC investing in AIFollow AuthorMay 10, 2026, 06:18pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Big pile of bundles of 100 US dollar notes. gettyThe idea that AI is about to take away millions of human jobs in America has been around for a while now, since perhaps the era of GPT 3 or so, when it started to become clear to business leaders and everyone else that most human jobs can be, to some extent, automated.As economists know, the entire job doesn’t need to be automated in order to spur huge layoffs at companies. The workloads which can’t be automated can be consolidated to a greatly shrunken full-time staff, leaving the vast majority with pink slips.Last month, a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas showed that the top reason for layoffs was automation, as cited by those making the decisions. Now, as of yesterday, we know that the same is true for the past month of April. The May 7 report showed clearly that U.S. employers shedded 83,387 jobs in April, up 38% from March numbers.“Technology companies continue to announce large-scale cuts and are leading all industries in layoff announcements,” explains Challenger, Gray and Christmas workplace expert and chief revenue officer Andy Challenger. “They are also often citing AI spend and innovation. Regardless of whether individual jobs are being replaced by AI, the money for those roles is.”That’s a good distinction: it may not be apples to apples in terms of job displacement, but the money speaks for itself.MORE FOR YOUBig Moves in TechRecently, I wrote about the enormous tranches of layoffs at Meta, where Mark Zuckerberg has announced an ambitious plan to automate many operations. Analysts cite a combined 2400 la...