Jobs
When Peggy Noonan writes about AI and job impact, the topic is mainstream. The implications of job changes because of AI in the data, information services, and B2B vertical tech world are profound. Overlay government cutbacks due to DOGE, funding cuts, and the back and forth of court orders and one can see job impact writing on the wall.
In just a few short weeks:
- A Quote from Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas
- Anthropic and Perplexity forecasting as many as 50% of entry level jobs are disappearing.
- We are seeing forecasts for trades and “blue collar jobs” becoming the new “white collar” while college education increasingly brings less ROI.
- Just yesterday there was an article on LinkedIn citing Deloitte losing 124 government contracts, Accenture 30, Booz Allen Hamilton 61, IBM and others hit too with preparation for lay-offs as a result.
- I wrote about McKinsey and Gartner.
- Yesterday, Outsell’s Hugh Logue analyzed legal behemoths Thomson Reuters vs. LexisNexis and their AI infused big-moves.
Entry level legal researchers, analysts, consultants, coders, recruiters? Fill in the entry-level blank because the white-collar apprentice is fast moving to the machines. Even the poor plight of TRMan is about to get worse as the BDR/SDR becomes the AI BDR, or AI SDR (all with their own name thank you!) now being deployed in enterprises to do first level sales triage. Just last week I heard of two very successful case studies. And the entry level marketer? Forget about it.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics took heat. Right, wrong, or otherwise one can’t ignore these trends. Just yesterday I was asked to speak with the granddaughter a close industry colleague to share advice about how to land that first ‘out of college job’ now increasingly illusive for too many. With dual citizenship, great internship experience, a liberal arts degree, and a well-rounded personality — she cannot find work.
My best friend’s son, 10 years out of university with double degrees in computer science an MS, incredible work experience, and here too nothing. The anecdotal stories often speak louder than the stats.
And then suddenly this. More non-sense!
It feels like doomsday. A major shift is occurring, and this impacts our industry’s leaders in three ways:
1. We have to plan for our own talent retooling and where we are going to augment our teams, replace our team, train and upskill our team. How we shape our own information businesses is paramount.
2. If pricing models are based on ‘users’ and ’seats’ as they often are — this is going to change dramatically and the number of seats sold to will change too.
3. Outsell research shows that GDP and economic performance is a driver of information industry performance. But what happens when GDP is up and productivity is up, but jobs are down. Do we really believe new jobs will form. I’m not so sure at least not at the pace with which this sea change is forming.
So, we are doing two things to shed light on these important topics. First, we’ve launched our annual CEO Sentiment Survey; if you are a qualified respondent (CEO, COO, MD, President running a business or unit in our industry) and wish to participate, take the survey today. AI and talent are some of the questions we’re asking about. We are fielding it now and you’ll be privy to early results.
Second, we are bringing you expert opinion from Elena Magrini, Senior Economist and researcher at Lightcast on October 8, 2025, in London at the annual Outsell CEO Summit. She’ll distill fact from fiction and share critical factors necessary to unpeel what’s going on — essential for your 2026 planning.
To receive your invitation please be in touch with Jeannine. It is crazy out there right now. Join us to make sense out of the non-sense.