Archive · 31 Jul 2026
AI Slows Wage Growth, Not Job Losses, Study Finds
A study by Apollo Global Management looked at how artificial intelligence (AI) affects workers in the United States.
It found that AI isn’t causing many people to lose their jobs, but it is making it harder for many workers to earn more money.
Jobs that use AI a lot saw wages grow about 6.7% slower than before.
Low‑paid workers, like those in service jobs, saw their earnings drop the most.
The study says that as more companies use AI, the gap between high‑paid and low‑paid workers could get even bigger.
AI has not caused widespread layoffs in the US, but it has slowed wage growth in high‑exposure jobs.
Jobs with the highest AI exposure saw an average 6.7% decline in real wage growth since 2023.
Service workers and the lowest‑earning 25% of workers experienced the largest wage declines, 24.3% and 10.7% respectively.
Some occupations, like computer programmers and statistical assistants, saw real wage drops of 5–6% between 2022 and 2024.
Around 5.8 million US workers are in jobs with high AI exposure, a number expected to rise as AI use expands.
- Who
- Apollo Global Management researchers, including analyst Sania Edlich and chief economist Torsten Sløk
- What
- AI has slowed wage growth in jobs with high AI exposure
- When
- Since 2023, after the mainstream adoption of ChatGPT
- Where
- United States, across 321 occupations
- Why
- Companies use AI to boost productivity while keeping headcount stable, leading to slower wage increases
- Wage Growth Decline
- 6.7% average decline in real wage growth for high AI exposure jobs since 2023
- Lowest-paid workers impact
- 24.3% decline in earnings growth for service workers
- Number of high AI exposure workers
- 5.8 million US workers
- Study scope
- 321 occupations in the US
- AI exposure index
- Anthropic’s Economic Index