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AI Job Losses and Hiring Gains Are Both Real

Two contradictory things about AI and employment are now both supported by data — and the tension between them has direct consequences for anyone navigating a job search in 2026.

A new analysis from Ramp and Revelio Labs, covering nearly 22,000 companies and reported by TechCrunch on June 29, found that companies making deep, sustained AI investments grew their total headcount by 10.2% — and their entry-level headcount by 12%. At the same time, Goldman Sachs research cited in the same reporting estimates that AI has already erased approximately 16,000 net jobs per month over the past year, with roughly 90,000 AI-cited job cuts announced through May 2026.

Both sets of numbers are real. They just describe different companies.

The split that the headlines miss

The Ramp and Revelio Labs report draws a sharp line between companies that are genuinely committed to AI and those that are experimenting at the margins. The firms classified as high-intensity AI adopters were spending roughly $30 per employee per month on AI tooling in their first three months — a level of investment that signals organizational intent, not casual subscription purchases.

Those companies saw headcount grow across engineering, sales, administration, customer service, finance, marketing, and scientist roles. The strongest gains were in the information sector, covering software, internet, media, and adjacent tech firms. Meanwhile, companies that ran pilots but did not follow through with sustained investment saw no headcount gains at all, according to the report.

The authors themselves are careful about what the data proves — and what it does not. The paper does not argue that AI universally creates jobs. What it does show is that the job-destruction story and the job-creation story are not describing the same group of employers.

What this means for job seekers

The practical implication is that where you aim your job search matters as much as how you present yourself. Our read of the data is that the 90,000 AI-cited layoff figure and the 12% entry-level growth figure are not contradictions — they are two outcomes of the same shift, concentrated at opposite ends of the AI-adoption spectrum.

Companies investing seriously in AI are growing, and they are adding junior roles to support that growth. Companies in sectors where AI is disrupting workflows without a corresponding strategic investment appear to be where the cuts are landing. That gap is likely to widen as sustained adoption pays off for the leaders while slower movers fall further behind.

For job seekers, this reframes the strategy. Targeting employers that have moved past the pilot phase — those spending on AI infrastructure, training teams to use it, and reorganizing workflows around it — puts you in the hiring pool of companies that are actually expanding. Positioning yourself as someone who works alongside AI tools, rather than someone who fears replacement by them, aligns with exactly the profile those employers are building toward. Our earlier look at skills that hold value in an AI-driven workplace is worth revisiting in this context: the companies growing fastest are not replacing human judgment, they are layering AI on top of it.

The messiness the headline references is real — but the data also offers a clearer signal than the aggregate layoff numbers alone would suggest. The question for any job seeker is not whether AI is affecting hiring. It is whether the employer you are targeting is on the growth side of that split or the contraction side.