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Last month, Tim Toohey from Yarra Capital warned that if AI is “deployed at scale in Australia over the next two years”, then the nation’s unemployment rate could rise to above 6% from 4.3% currently:
Shortly afterwards, a Mercer survey of Australian senior executives, human resources personnel, and employees revealed that 100% of HR managers believed their company would reduce headcount due to AI within two years, with 60% believing that one in five jobs would be lost because of AI.
The above analysis does not include the potential adverse effects on employment arising from the global energy shock and higher interest rates, which would compound the AI impacts.
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.