{"id":"camfeed-8","numeric_id":8,"short_title":"AI job upheaval","seo_title":"First-of-its-kind government report says AI not yet causing mass job lay-offs - ABC News","social_title":"AI jobs report finds no major disruption, but some warning signs","headline":"First-of-its-kind government report says AI not yet causing mass job lay-offs","teaser_title":"AI jobs report finds no major disruption, but some warning signs","titles_source_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304","titles_fetched_at":"2026-09-05T04:20:03+00:00","title":"AI jobs report finds no major disruption, but some warning signs","canonical_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304","published_at":"2026-07-07T20:30:37+00:00","source":"ABC News","source_type":"abc","type":"news article","content_role":"primary","author":"Cameron Wilson","summary":"Artificial intelligence is not yet causing a broad disruption to Australia's labour market, according to a government report.","text":"Artificial intelligence is not yet causing a broad disruption to Australia's labour market, according to a government report.","has_full_text":true,"mcp_visible":true,"mcp_full_text_allowed":true,"full_text_word_count":705,"full_text_status":"ok","full_text_source_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304","full_text_fetched_at":"2026-09-04T10:49:27+00:00","has_transcript":false,"transcript_status":"","transcript_kind":"","transcript_char_count":0,"topics":["AI","technology policy"],"quoted_author":"","quoted_url":"","quoted_text":"","citation":"Cameron Wilson, \"AI jobs report finds no major disruption, but some warning signs\", ABC News, 2026-07-08, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304","citation_markdown":"Cameron Wilson, [AI jobs report finds no major disruption, but some warning signs](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304) — ABC News — 2026-07-08","attribution":"Originally published at ABC News. Link to the canonical ABC URL: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304","full_text":"Amid warnings that artificial intelligence could wipe out white-collar jobs and cause high-profile lay-offs, the federal government's first major look at AI's effect on employment has found the sky is not falling.\n\nYet.\n\nAccording to the first-of-its-kind report from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australia's job market remains strong but there are some early signs of weakening around jobs predicted to be most affected by the technology, such as telemarketers.\n\nIt comes amid growing public anxiety about AI and employment, with thousands of Australian tech workers laid off this year in cuts linked to AI.\n\nEmployment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said the report should calm fears of imminent disruption to Australia's job market.\n\n\"Artificial intelligence could yet reshape the jobs market in Australia, but this report shows labour market conditions remain strong by historical standards, youth outcomes have mostly held up, and occupational reshuffling has not accelerated,\" she said.\n\nHowever, the minister said the Albanese government would monitor the market and regulate AI to harness its benefits for Australian workers.\n\nJob market steady with warnings at the edges\n\nThe government's report takes a bird's-eye view of how Australia's job market has changed since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, based on labour market data and statistical analysis.\n\nWhile the market is in a strong position overall with low unemployment, the government's analysis includes evidence that could be the early signs of AI's impact.\n\nIt looked at the difference between growth in industries believed to be exposed to AI, including registry clerks, telemarketers and administrative roles.\n\nEmployment in the occupations most exposed to AI grew by 5.6 per cent between November 2022 and February 2026, the report found, compared with 9.5 per cent in the least-exposed occupations.\n\nThe report suggested that jobs exposed to AI had about 2 per cent lower employment by February this year than they would have under a pre-ChatGPT trend.\n\nBut the report repeatedly cautioned that it was not definitive proof AI was impacting those types of jobs, noting AI-exposed jobs were already facing weaker growth before ChatGPT was released.\n\nThe report also had some counterintuitive findings about AI and work.\n\nWhile a few high-profile tech companies have linked recent job cuts to AI, the report said employment in Australian software development roles had actually increased by 25 per cent since November 2022.\n\nJobs for people aged 20 to 24 had also grown slightly faster than jobs for people aged 25 and over since the introduction of ChatGPT, while young graduate outcomes remained resilient.\n\nThe continued growth in youth employment combined with a lack of rapid reshuffling across occupations — a potential sign that AI disruption was causing people to adapt by changing careers — was also inconsistent with AI-fuelled job market disruption, the report said.\n\nThe report lends further credence to previous research that AI was reshaping the labour market and slowing hiring in some exposed jobs, but had not yet produced clear evidence of widespread job losses.\n\nThe findings also put Australia at odds with the United States, which is experiencing a weakening of its job market.\n\nToo late to wait\n\nThe government said the report would serve as an important benchmark for the future monitoring of AI's effect on work.\n\nOutside of the research, it has created a regular meeting between government, employers and unions to monitor and address the effects of AI on the workplace.\n\nMs Rishworth said the research also reaffirmed its commitment to make sure AI helped create \"good jobs\".\n\n\"We will continue to make sure Australians are supported through this change, with the skills, training and pathways needed to adapt and benefit,\" she said.\n\nThe federal government has faced criticism that it is failing to pre-empt the threat to workers from AI by political opponents ranging from One Nation senator Pauline Hanson to the Greens.\n\nCoalition employment spokesperson Jane Hume has been contacted for comment.\n\nScientia Professor of AI at UNSW Sydney, Toby Walsh, said the absence of clear job losses did not mean governments could afford to wait before preparing workers for change.\n\n\"When the numbers are showing significant impact of AI on jobs, it's already too late to respond,\" Professor Walsh said.\n\n\"We actually have to be proactive.\"","full_text_attribution":"Full text extracted from the ABC News article at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/government-report-finds-ai-not-yet-causing-mass-job-losses/106889304. 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