AI displacement is what happens when work people were paid to do is taken over by AI systems and their roles are cut. This page measures it as Displacement: the share of a Sector's workforce whose roles were lost to AI in a quarter. AI creates roles too, so every figure sits beside Net change, which counts both.
Four Headline findings from a simulated dataset of 80 countries and ten Sectors, followed by an Explorer for checking them yourself.
Every number on this page is simulated. The figures are calibrated to published research but none is a measured observation. Each finding compares the 2020 average with the latest four quarters (2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2), as a simple average across 80 countries.
Across 80 countries, average Displacement rose from 2.7% in 2020 to 8.7% in the latest four quarters.
New roles did not keep pace: Net change fell from −0.9% to −3.3%.
Displacement is the gross share of a Sector's workforce whose roles were lost to AI in a quarter. Net change offsets it with the new roles AI created; negative means more lost than created.
Displacement rose every year; Net change moved further below zero
Share of workforce, quarterly average across 80 countries
| Quarter | Displacement | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 Q1 | 2.4% | −0.8% |
| 2020 Q2 | 2.6% | −0.9% |
| 2020 Q3 | 2.9% | −1.0% |
| 2020 Q4 | 3.0% | −1.0% |
| 2021 Q1 | 3.3% | −1.1% |
| 2021 Q2 | 3.6% | −1.3% |
| 2021 Q3 | 3.8% | −1.4% |
| 2021 Q4 | 4.1% | −1.4% |
| 2022 Q1 | 4.4% | −1.6% |
| 2022 Q2 | 4.6% | −1.6% |
| 2022 Q3 | 4.9% | −1.8% |
| 2022 Q4 | 5.1% | −1.8% |
| 2023 Q1 | 5.4% | −2.0% |
| 2023 Q2 | 5.7% | −2.0% |
| 2023 Q3 | 6.0% | −2.2% |
| 2023 Q4 | 6.2% | −2.3% |
| 2024 Q1 | 6.5% | −2.4% |
| 2024 Q2 | 6.8% | −2.5% |
| 2024 Q3 | 7.0% | −2.6% |
| 2024 Q4 | 7.4% | −2.7% |
| 2025 Q1 | 7.7% | −2.9% |
| 2025 Q2 | 8.0% | −2.9% |
| 2025 Q3 | 8.3% | −3.1% |
| 2025 Q4 | 8.5% | −3.3% |
| 2026 Q1 | 8.9% | −3.3% |
| 2026 Q2 | 9.1% | −3.5% |
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research. Shaded bands mark the two periods compared; the figures in them are each period's average.
Administrative & Clerical has the highest Displacement of the ten Sectors, at 14.2%.
Healthcare & Life Sciences (3.3%) and Education & Research (3.9%) sit at the other end, at less than a third of that.
Displacement by Sector
Share of workforce, average of the latest four quarters
| Sector | Displacement |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Clerical | 14.2% |
| Manufacturing & Industry | 12.2% |
| Retail & E-Commerce | 11.3% |
| Transportation & Logistics | 10.6% |
| Finance & Banking | 9.3% |
| Media & Communications | 8.5% |
| Technology & Software | 7.1% |
| Energy & Utilities | 6.6% |
| Education & Research | 3.9% |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 3.3% |
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research.
High-income countries show the highest Displacement, 13.1%, against 4.7% in low-income countries.
They also show the highest Replacement rate: 75 new roles for every 100 displaced, against 20.
Replacement rate is the number of new roles AI created for every 100 roles displaced.
Displacement and Replacement rate both rise with income
By World Bank income group, average of the latest four quarters
| Income group | Countries | Displacement | Replacement rate, new roles per 100 displaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| High income | 31 | 13.1% | 75 |
| Upper middle income | 22 | 6.8% | 55 |
| Lower middle income | 24 | 5.2% | 35 |
| Low income | 3 | 4.7% | 20 |
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research. Replacement rate is rounded to the nearest whole number. The low-income group is only 3 countries, against 31, 22 and 24 in the others.
Women are 79% of the Administrative & Clerical workforce but 95% of its displaced roles.
In every other Sector the two shares are within about 4 points of each other.
One Sector stands apart
Women's share of the workforce and of displaced roles, by Sector
| Sector | Share of workforce | Share of displaced roles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative & Clerical | 79% | 95% | +16 pts |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 72% | 76% | +4 pts |
| Education & Research | 58% | 61% | +3 pts |
| Retail & E-Commerce | 54% | 57% | +3 pts |
| Finance & Banking | 48% | 50% | +2 pts |
| Media & Communications | 46% | 48% | +2 pts |
| Manufacturing & Industry | 29% | 31% | +2 pts |
| Technology & Software | 28% | 29% | +1 pt |
| Energy & Utilities | 26% | 27% | +1 pt |
| Transportation & Logistics | 22% | 23% | +1 pt |
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research. Averages across all 26 quarters. Gaps are in percentage points.
The Explorer
The same Synthetic data, unedited. Change the Selection in the sentence below, drag through the quarters, and click any country.
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The chosen metric, by country
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research.
Displacement, all Sectors, 2020 Q1 to 2026 Q2
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Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research.
The chosen metric for the ten Sectors, ranked
Synthetic data. Simulated figures calibrated to published research.