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"The jobs market isn’t just wobbling, it’s being hollowed out by a silent AI revolution"

ended 10. June 2025

The jobs market is deteriorating with unemployment rising, job vacancies declining and wage growth slipping this year, according to official data published today. Newspage asked experts if, as well as the finger being pointed at Government policy and broader economic headwinds, Big Tech is also a factor driving a deeper and longer lasting change in the employment market. One said the jobs market is being “hollowed out by a silent revolution” with the “rise of AI and automation quietly replacing the need for people”. While another said “we now have automation and AI-based document validation doing those same tasks” one or two workers would do. One more said AI and Big Tech are “catalysts” for change in the job market. Views below.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The jobs market isn’t just wobbling, it’s being hollowed out by a silent AI revolution. It’s not just blundering government missteps weighing us down, it’s the rise of AI and automation quietly replacing the need for people. As Britain races to be a global AI leader, we’re also fast-tracking towards a reduced workforce. Roles once secure, from customer service to logistics, are vanishing behind algorithms and robotic arms. We're staring down the barrel of a perfect storm: tax hikes on one side, tech-driven job cuts on the other. Wage growth is slipping, vacancies are falling and the safety net is fraying. The future is efficient but it’s also fewer people needed. This isn’t a jobs blip. It’s a fundamental shift. And unless government policy and education adapt quickly, we won’t be building Britain, we’ll be breaking it.
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Kate Allen
Owner at Finest Stays
The reset in the job market isn’t just about policy, it’s Big Tech reshaping the future of work. We’re busy training GPT agents to take on more tasks, using VAs to cut HR costs, and streamlining operations to keep up. The result is fewer full-time hires, more reliance on tech which is a game changer, and a permanent shift in how we approach hiring.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Where the cost of employment is increasing at the same time as AI and technology become cheaper and more reliable, we are seeing a change in the service industries in particular. For example, where we used to have 1 or 2 members of the team checking documents and chasing clients for mortgage applications, we now have automation and AI-based document validation doing those same tasks, without the need for staff and thus avoiding ever-spiralling costs. Whilst the ideal would be to provide for the human touch with clients, as our industry changes so do the needs and behaviours of our audience, who are more in-tune with using online tools and interacting 24/7. It is unlikely we will look to recruit in the short term unless business volumes provide for that luxury.
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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
There's certainly an overlap of tech replacing people at the same time as employers are seeking to reduce headcount and costs due to wider economic pressures. That said, tech 'destroying' jobs seems a permanent fear from perhaps even before the Luddites. A more recent example would be food service, such as McDonalds. Originally I would order at the counter. Then I was nudged to use the touchscreen and now I can order from an app on my phone, whilst sitting at my desk, and then collect my Big Mac almost as soon as I walk in the door of the restaurant. However, we can rarely predict the changes that tech will bring and the new jobs it will create. Who predicted the rise in Personal Trainers or Influencers as jobs?
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
Yes, the jobs market is softening but blaming “headwinds” is just economic PR for policies that punish growth and scare off enterprise. As a developer and entrepreneur, I’ve watched AI and automation shift from novelty to necessity, not because we’re chasing efficiency for sport, but because hiring has become a regulatory and financial minefield. Big Tech isn’t just disrupting sectors, it is quietly resetting the entire employment equation. When an algorithm can do in seconds what an admin team does in a week, and with no pension, payroll tax or HR hassle, the incentive to automate becomes painfully obvious. Of course, Labour will call it “market failure” and demand state intervention, but the truth is business is simply adapting to survive in a system that penalises human capital. AI didn’t kill the jobs market, Labour's bureaucracy and hostile employer policies did. Technology is just cleaning up the mess with brutal logic. That's all there is to it.
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Darren Jacobs
Director at Toca Salons
The current jobs market is 100% down to a blundering government. Three years ago the jobs market in our industry was thriving with salons working hard to retain their best stylists as opportunities abounded for them to move to other salons. Now, I can't remember the last time a stylist left our group and other salons in our area are not recruiting. The stakes are simply too high with rising costs at every corner including the most recent round of NI hikes. Whilst technology may be a factor in some industries, right now, for us, it's wholly down to the spiralling costs of running a business in the UK.
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Keith Budden
Managing Director at Ensurety
There’s no doubt we’re seeing a shift, but perhaps not a simple subtraction of jobs. As AI and automation evolve, some roles will disappear, but many will be redefined or newly created. It’s less a reset, more a reshaping of the workforce. Big Tech and AI aren’t inherently to blame, they’re catalysts. The real challenge lies in how we adapt: reskilling workers, redesigning roles and aligning policy with progress. Technology should enhance human capability, not replace it. If we focus on trust, transparency and training, we can build a jobs market that’s resilient, inclusive and fit for the future. As with any tool, It’s not just about the tools we use, it’s about how we use them.