One Million Jobs, Zero Apocalypse: How AI Is Outpacing Layoffs and Rewriting the Labor Market

🚨 The Economist: AI has already created around 1 MILLION American jobs.

From skilled trades to high-tech roles, AI is proving to be a net job creator.
pic.twitter.com/wKzAkg35wW— Innovation Council (@innovationcncl) September 8, 2026

These jobs aren’t confined to the tech sector, either. Like with most other technological advancements, the employment boom driven by artificial intelligence has spilled into trade and blue-collar industries alongside the usual tech roles.

Massive spending on data centers and power generation has supercharged hiring for electricians, HVAC and plumbing workers, utility-system builders, commercial construction crews, and electrical-equipment manufacturers. Employment across core data-center-related industries has surged by roughly 320,000 jobs above trend since 2023, and the BLS projects utilities will be the fastest-growing sector through 2035.

At the same time, a new class of professional roles, engineers, software developers, mathematicians, data scientists, and related occupations, has exploded by about 730,000 jobs above trend since 2022. LinkedIn’s analysis points to roughly 640,000 new AI-specific jobs between 2023 and 2025.

Even young workers, who many expected to be the first employment casualty of AI, are faring far better than the doom-and-gloom would suggest. With unemployment at just 4.1 percent, the overall job market is too strong for any one group to be in terrible shape. Plus, the usual gap between youth and overall unemployment has shrunk to several decade lows, yet another positive sign indicative of young adult labor market strength. If AI were wiping out entry-level jobs, that gap would be widening.

Narrative violation: According to the Economist, AI has created 1 million new jobs in the U.S.
https://t.co/Iu8Yj7EW1u pic.twitter.com/0Do4es4lxO— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) September 8, 2026

The numbers thus far point to a brighter future ahead for America, with an economy increasingly driven by artificial intelligence in both production and labor. As many who believe in free-market economics were quick to point out, technology always creates jobs people wouldn’t have been able to fathom just a generation earlier. That not only tracks with all of human history, but reflects the core belief in adaptation that underlies free-market principles.

History, once again, has so far proven victorious.

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AI cannot make a carpenter, physicist, chemist or attorney out of an untrained person.

Well, actually...several months ago I was talking to a guy who came to service my air conditioner. It turned out I knew him from years ago when our sons were in Scouting together.

I was talking to him about how a lot of my friends in I.T. were being laid off because of A.I., and I told him that HVAC must be a good area to be in, since AI can't do that job.
He replied, "Well, actually, we have an AI for troubleshooting issues." He then told me that the more senior guys don't use it much because they have the necessary experience, but the young guys use it quite a bit.

In every leap forward in technology, there is always skepticism and predictions of Armageddon then after a number of years, the exact opposite happens, great leaps forward in technology produces economic growth and increases in employment.

I point to the transportation system it the USA.

At one time it took months to travel from the east to the west coast of the USA via horse and buggy or stagecoach.

Along comes rail and you could travel from the east coast to the west coast in a few days or a couple of weeks at most.

Then someone realizes that loading people onto planes can get people from NY to California in a matter of hours

At the same time, we built the Interstate Highway system which allows someone in a car to drive from coast to coast in a few days, which has made train travel an afterthought for most people.

This change has turned the train industry into primarily a cargo movement industry versus people transportation industry.

In AI what will happen is a relatively small number of people will use AI to create or bring back old industries and that will lead to a massive increase in overall employment.

Barriers of entry into industry will get broken down, the movie making industry for example will get radically changed IMO, in the future a small number of people compared to today will be able to make full length Hollywood quality movies for a fraction of the cost of today’s movies which will lead to a massive number of possibilities.

The last thing we need to do is to listen to the Bernie Sanders types or anyone else calling for a halt to AI development which is akin to someone calling for a halt to air travel because it’s detrimental to the train industry.

I am a professional reverse engineer and AI has become a tool for us. It gets an idea, and runs it to the end, but if that doesn’t provide the solution you asked for it likes to throw its hands up. It’s my job to point it in a different direction, and let it run that to the end. It’s like a marble rolling across a round table. You have to occasionally put your hand at the edge to bump it back across the table.

It has done some amazing things, but thus far, not without my help. Sometimes significant help.

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