Bank of England: AI is cutting hiring at UK firms, not causing layoffs
The Bank of England finds AI has had close to zero effect on UK employment so far, but firms using it are hiring fewer people and replacing fewer leavers.
Tag: workforce
82 articles tagged workforce
UK graduates land AI-focused jobs, but employers split on trade skills
UK firms are hiring graduates to run AI agents, the BBC reports, but some employers and PwC UK's technology chief doubt AI skills alone will sustain a career.
Almost three in five UK managers suspect AI use in online interviews
A Chartered Management Institute survey of 928 UK managers finds AI moving from CVs into interviews, and half worried that candidates may misrepresent skills.
KPMG: 87% of UK finance leaders expect AI to outdo the Big Bang
KPMG's UK financial services survey finds most leaders think AI will reshape the sector more than 1986's Big Bang, and spread its gains beyond London.
Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as it puts more AI into its operations
Barclays will shed about 5% of its global staff by year end, with UK retail banking the focus and AI called the 'icing on the cake' of a modernisation drive.
Microsoft survey: 84% of UK bosses but 41% of staff back AI ambition
Censuswide polling for Microsoft finds UK leaders far more confident than workers that Britain can lead on AI, and both groups want skills help from ministers.
Documents suggest Amazon AI flagged two UK sites for union risk
Court documents suggest Amazon's Atlas tool scores sites for unionisation risk, with Coventry and Sutton Coldfield in the top tier. Amazon denies surveillance.
UK AI job ads up 51% to 100,000, but London dominates, Accenture says
Accenture counts about 100,000 UK AI vacancies in six months, up 51%, with London listing six times as many as Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester.
Over half of UK CFOs expect AI to cut headcount within a year
Deloitte's Q3 CFO Survey finds 52% expect AI to reduce headcount and 48% lower costs within 12 months, while most say adoption is only a quarter of the way.
GP practices face 20-page AI-written complaints, MPS survey finds
Only 7% of GP practice managers surveyed by the Medical Protection Society have never had an AI-generated complaint, and 45% say they add to workload pressure.
Scottish civil servants say AI-drafted MSP questions swamp their work
Staff claim MSPs lodge what look like AI-written parliamentary questions in batches of 20, adding to FOI pressure that they say delays policy work and payments.
HSBC plans deep UK wealth job cuts as it leans on AI, FT reports
HSBC may cut about half of management and specialist roles in UK wealth and up to around 70% of its financial advisers as it pushes AI into the business, the FT says.
PwC: 19% of UK workers use AI daily, and 44% of users report more work
PwC's UK Hopes and Fears survey shows daily AI use rising and junior staff catching up, but 44% of AI users say their workload has grown rather than shrunk.
UK workers fear the economy more than AI, says PwC's latest survey
PwC's UK Hopes and Fears survey of 2,023 workers finds 44% see economic volatility as the top job threat, 37% cite AI, and Gen Z trails on skills confidence.
UK workers are spending £1bn a year on their own AI tools
Deloitte's first GenAI workforce survey finds one in six British workers buying AI software their employer will not, and 31% using it unannounced.
Employers are starting to promote on AI fluency
Bonuses, rankings and review criteria increasingly turn on tool use. A UK employment lawyer says it is lawful, but the fairness questions are unresolved.
AI will not trigger a jobs collapse, Adecco argues
The world's largest staffing firm says AI is reshaping tasks rather than destroying jobs, and warns firms not to gut entry-level roles that feed talent pipelines.
London employers warn of a widening AI skills gap
BusinessLDN survey finds the share of employers saying their workforce has the skills they need fell from 63% to 50% in a year, as Khan accepts taskforce plan.
Half of London firms report an AI-era skills gap
A survey of 2,043 London business leaders finds just 50% believe their workforce has the skills needed for the AI era, down from 63% a year earlier.
Walmart tells 2.1m staff AI will reshape jobs, not cut them
Walmart is pushing AI across design, logistics and stores while assuring its 2.1m workers the technology will change roles rather than replace them.
Most UK workers feel overwhelmed by the pace of AI
Henley Business School research finds 61% of UK workers feel overwhelmed by AI's pace, even as adoption spreads and shadow AI use grows.
Confused AI rollouts hurt UK firms and baffle their staff
Muddled AI adoption is wasting money and bewildering employees, experts warn, as firms chase the technology without agreeing why they are using it.
UK workers and bosses split on AI: KCL study finds one in five fear civil unrest
A KCL/Policy Institute study finds 70% of Britons worried about AI's economic impact and 20% expecting civil unrest, as employers stay sharply more optimistic.
UK public sector IT teams say AI is shifting workload, not reducing it
A SolarWinds survey finds 56% of public sector IT respondents say AI has made their roles more demanding, with 90% reporting fragmented systems.
DeepMind UK staff seek union recognition over Pentagon AI deal
Google DeepMind workers in the UK have voted to unionise after the Pentagon contract and dropped weapons pledge, in what unions describe as a frontier-lab first.
Development Bank of Wales awards £60,000 AI skills contract
The Welsh government body has contracted a Cheshire SME to deliver a year-long AI adoption programme, including Microsoft Copilot training and AI Champions across teams.
UK Launches AI Apprenticeship to Close Digital Skills Gap
Skills England launches a Level 4 AI and automation apprenticeship open to all employers, part of the government's drive to upskill 10 million workers by 2030.
Which jobs are most threatened by AI? New research maps the risks
GovAI and Brookings study finds 6.1 million clerical workers are both highly exposed to AI and least able to adapt. Women hold 86% of the most vulnerable roles.
Ocado Cuts 1,000 Jobs as AI Helps Rivals Close the Gap
Ocado announced 1,000 redundancies as analysts say competitors are using AI to replicate the company's automated warehouse technology faster and cheaper.
Block Cuts Nearly Half Its Workforce in AI-Driven Restructuring
Jack Dorsey's fintech company eliminates over 4,000 jobs, shrinking from 10,000 to fewer than 6,000 staff to become an 'intelligence-native' company.
Study Finds 80% of Firms Report No AI Impact on Productivity
A major NBER study of nearly 6,000 executives across four countries found most firms have seen no measurable productivity gains from AI adoption.
IBM to Triple Entry-Level Hiring Rather Than Replace Workers With AI
IBM plans to triple its US entry-level hiring in 2026, rewriting junior roles to focus on tasks AI cannot handle such as customer engagement and output verification.
AI Will Make Call Centre Agents 'Superheroes,' Not Unemployed, Says Industry CEO
UJET CEO argues AI's real value in call centres is eliminating clunky software, not replacing staff, as Gartner warns AI resolution costs may exceed human agents by 2030.
AI Safety Leader Quits Anthropic Warning 'World Is in Peril'
Anthropic researcher Mrinank Sharma resigns with a cryptic warning, while a former OpenAI researcher raises concerns about ChatGPT advertising and AI dependency.
What Has AI Done to Illustrators? A 30% Drop in Attention and a Creative Reckoning
Research shows AI image tools cut attention to human illustrators by 30% and reduced output by 10%, while professionals argue the creative process itself is what matters.
Jersey Eyes AI 'Synthetic Workers' to Expand Workforce Without Population Growth
Digital Jersey's CEO proposes AI agents as 'synthetic workers' to boost economic output while avoiding the housing pressures of traditional workforce expansion.
AI Job Loss Fears May Be Overstated, Analysis Suggests
Despite headlines about mass unemployment, labour market data shows limited AI impact so far, with technology historically creating more jobs than it destroys.
Insurance Executives Plan AI Spending Surge Despite Skills Gap
Accenture survey finds 90% of insurance leaders will increase AI investment in 2026, but employee readiness lags significantly behind.
Lloyds CEO Warns Bankers Must Reskill for AI Transformation
Charlie Nunn says AI delivered £50m boost in 2025 with £100m expected in 2026 as bank embraces agentic AI for customer service.
UK Government Launches Cross-Department Unit to Monitor AI Job Disruption
Work secretary Liz Kendall acknowledges jobs will be lost but pledges AI training for all British adults as government prepares for workforce transition.
AI Will Cost Jobs, Admits UK Tech Secretary Liz Kendall
Government announces plans to train 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030, targeting UK as fastest AI adoption country in G7 whilst acknowledging job losses in law and finance.
UK Minister: Universal Basic Income Needed for AI Job Displacement
Investment minister Lord Stockwood reveals government discussions about UBI to support workers in industries facing AI disruption, suggesting tech windfall levy could fund payments.
UK Government Expands Free AI Training to Reach 10 Million Workers
Major expansion of AI Skills Boost programme adds NHS and techUK as partners, with £27 million funding for local tech jobs and new government unit on AI's future of work.
Physical AI: How Intelligent Robots Are Transforming Business Operations
AI-enabled robots are moving beyond production lines into dynamic environments, with over 4.7 million industrial robots now in operation globally.
HP to Cut Up to 6,000 Jobs by 2028 as AI Transforms Operations
Computer maker HP announces workforce reductions of up to 6,000 roles over three years, citing AI adoption for product development, operations, and customer support.