Goldman says AI layoffs are leaving 'long-lasting' scar, like the last 40 years

Goldman Sachs economist Pierfrancesco Mei found that US workers displaced from AI-exposed jobs since 2025 took about a month longer to find new work than other displaced workers and were roughly 10 percentage points more likely to still be unemployed a year later, effects comparable to earlier waves of technological change. Workers 35 and older took about five weeks longer to return to full-time work versus about three weeks for those under 35. Goldman built its AI-displacement measure from occupation AI exposure, industry adoption rates and job elimination, treating the top 30% as likely AI-displaced, using Current Population Survey data on more than 15,000 displaced workers from 2016 to 2025.