Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence

Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar, Ruyu Chen · Stanford Digital Economy Lab working paper · 26 Aug 2025

Where this sits in the debate

Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model (AI-written).

Key takeaway AI-written

Using payroll data, the authors find that since generative AI spread, workers aged 22-25 in the most AI-exposed occupations saw a 13% relative decline in employment, even after controlling for firm-level shocks.

The paper in three steps AI-written

Written by an AI agent from the paper's abstract, which is the primary source and is quoted below.

The question

Has employment changed for workers in AI-exposed occupations since generative AI was widely adopted?

The approach

The authors compare employment trends for workers by age and by their occupation's exposure to AI, controlling for firm-level shocks.

The findings

Workers aged 22-25 in the most AI-exposed occupations experienced a 13 percent relative decline in employment since the widespread adoption of generative AI, even after controlling for firm-level shocks.

How to read it: observational. Analysis of real-world firm, worker, or market data — realistic settings; causal claims depend on the identification strategy.

Limitations and counterpoints AI-written

The available abstract is a single sentence; data source, period and the other five facts are not described.

Source excerpt

We find that since the widespread adoption of generative AI, early-career workers (ages 22-25) in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 13 percent relative decline in employment even after controlling for firm-level shocks.

About this publication

Industry report. An industry or consultancy report — produced outside academic peer review.

Published: 2025 (14 months ago)
Citations: Not recorded for this source

□ added to this collection in 2026.