World Changes, High-Paying Professions Now Become Unemployment Fields
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The global labour market is haunted by the spectre of ‘extinction’ due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI). A series of elite professions that have long been associated with fantastic salaries, attractive career paths, and high social prestige are now on the brink.
This phenomenon is increasingly evident amid the wave of layoffs in various sectors previously considered ‘crisis-proof’. Efficiency measures initially thought to be temporary are now turning into permanent restructuring within the world’s largest companies.
The technology, financial services, and business consulting sectors are the hardest hit by this efficiency wave. Positions that were once coveted by job seekers now top the list of downsizing to reduce company operational costs.
Data from consulting firm Janco Associates, citing the US Department of Labor, recorded that the unemployment rate in the Information Technology (IT) sector jumped to 3.8% in April 2026, up from 3.6% the previous month.
AI is openly being blamed as the main scapegoat for this downsizing. Meta, for example, cut around 8,000 employees (10%) to reallocate budgets for AI investment. Nike followed suit by cutting 2% or 1,400 workers, mostly from its technology division. Meanwhile, Snap cut 16% or 1,000 workers for efficiency reasons.
Cumulatively, the telecommunications and data processing sectors have recorded a drastic reduction of up to 11% or around 342,000 jobs since the peak of the crisis in late 2022.
Storm in the Technology and Financial Sectors
During the golden era of the tech boom, software engineers, data scientists, and product managers were the ‘most expensive’ commodities in the job market. Companies did not hesitate to outbid each other to recruit the best digital talent with promises of fantastic salaries and stock options.
However, the era of easy money has officially ended. The era of high interest rates and global monetary tightening has suddenly dried up venture capital investment. As a result, Big Tech giants and startups alike have been forced to make aggressive efficiency cuts. Ironically, the highest-paid workers are the first to be sacrificed to save company balance sheets.
The situation is no less bleak in the investment banking and top-tier management consulting sectors. The sluggish global corporate actions such as mergers, acquisitions (M&A), and initial public offerings (IPOs) have caused high-income analyst positions to lose their bargaining power.
The Demise of White-Collar Workers Due to AI
Beyond macroeconomic pressures, the acceleration of generative AI has become the main killer factor. AI is no longer merely replacing physical or repetitive work, but is starting to ‘eat’ the work share of highly skilled white-collar workers.
Professions such as legal analysts, mid-level coders, market research analysts, and financial specialists can now be replicated by AI systems at very low cost and much faster speed. Companies are realising that AI integration can cut half of their team members without reducing productivity.
Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis revealed that many companies are now holding back capital deployment for new IT recruitment amid inflation and economic uncertainty.
“Why should they hire AI specialists for something that may not necessarily generate profit?” said Janulaitis, as quoted from the Wall Street Journal.
Threat of ‘Lifestyle Shock’ and Hidden Unemployment
The phenomenon of unemployment among high-earning executives and professionals is triggering systemic knock-on effects. Unlike the informal sector, this group generally bears high financial burdens adjusted to their previous income - such as luxury housing instalments, sports cars, and children’s international schooling.
When laid off, they experience lifestyle inflation shock. This group struggles to drastically lower their standard of living, while savings continue to be eroded to cover daily operational costs.
On the other hand, the job hunt for this senior group takes much longer. Companies that are cutting costs are reluctant to hire candidates deemed overqualified because they anticipate excessively high salary expectations.
This situation forces professionals to reskill or willingly lower their salary expectations drastically in order to be reabsorbed into an increasingly pragmatic and competitive job market.