US Professional and Technical Services Sector NAICS 54

Jun 4, 2026 - AI-Driven Tech Sector Layoffs Continue

• US employers announced more than 97,000 job cuts in May, with the technology sector leading reductions for the month, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Tech companies accounted for 38,240 layoffs and have announced 123,655 job cuts so far in 2026, a 66% increase from the same period last year. AI was the top reason cited for layoffs for the third consecutive month, with AI-related restructuring now linked to 22% of all announced job cuts. Challenger said companies are acting on AI’s potential to automate work and boost productivity, particularly in the technology industry. Despite rising tech layoffs, overall US job cuts remain well below last year’s levels, down 43% through May after federal workforce reductions drove unusually high totals in 2025. Employers have also announced 80,470 planned hires this year, though hiring remains historically weak compared with pre-pandemic levels.
• Americans are growing increasingly pessimistic about the job market despite low unemployment and other select economic indicators, raising concerns that fear of layoffs and weak hiring could slow the broader economy. Consumer sentiment fell to a record low in April as workers worried about inflation, rising gas prices, tariff uncertainty, and high-profile layoffs at major companies including Nike and Meta. Surveys from the University of Michigan, New York Fed, and LinkedIn all show mounting anxiety over employment prospects, with 64% of Americans expecting unemployment to rise within a year - a level historically associated with recessions. Hiring has slowed sharply, leaving job seekers struggling to find work and fueling concerns among employed workers in industries such as technology that are grappling with AI-driven worker displacement. Economists warn the growing lack of workforce confidence could reduce consumer spending, delay business hiring, and become a signal of a further weakening labor market.

• US companies are increasingly embracing large-scale layoffs, with firms like Snap, Block, and Amazon recently cutting anywhere from 16% to 40% of their workforces in single sweeping moves. Rather than being seen as a sign of trouble, these mass cuts are now rewarded by investors with stock bumps and praise. Block's CFO noted that executives from other companies have been reaching out to replicate their playbook. The driving forces are a mix of pandemic-era overhiring corrections, the soaring costs of building AI, and a broader shift in how leadership views large teams - increasingly as a drag on performance rather than an asset. While AI is often cited as justification for job cuts, most executives acknowledge it isn't directly replacing workers yet. The human toll is real: white-collar unemployment is rising, with college-educated workers under 35 now facing higher joblessness than those with only two-year degrees.
• AI will reshape 50%-55% of US jobs over the next three years, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), fundamentally changing what workers do even when their positions survive. Over a five-year horizon, 10%-15% of jobs could be eliminated entirely. BCG examined tasks and government labor data associated with 1,500 occupations and found the effects will vary significantly by industry. Software engineering demand may actually increase as AI drives down costs and clears massive project backlogs, while call center jobs face widespread elimination since lower costs won't generate proportionally more customer interactions. Jobs requiring physical presence or interpersonal skills (plumbers, therapists, and similar roles) will see little disruption. Rather than defaulting to layoffs, experts urge businesses to invest in re-skilling workers and redeploying them to areas less exposed to automation. New job categories will likely emerge from the AI era, though what they might look like remains unclear.