What AI is actually doing to jobs in Europe

In January 2026, London’s mayor gave a blunt warning that has reverberated far beyond City Hall: artificial intelligence could trigger “mass unemployment” in the capital’s core industries unless policymakers act now.

His words came with an unexpected counterweight: an announcement of free AI training and a dedicated task force to help workers adapt. This juxtaposition captures a tension shaping Europe’s labour landscape: fear and opportunity locked in the same story.

The anxiety isn’t limited to one city. Across the continent, debates about AI’s impact on jobs are intensifying. Visionaries and critics paint dramatically different pictures. Some technologists warn that advanced AI could substitute human labour at an unprecedented pace. 

“AI will replace humans”, you heard this before.

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Others argue these fears are exaggerated or misplaced if governments and employers can guide the transition. For many Europeans, the question is no longer theoretical; it is unfolding before their eyes.

At first look, the job market’s headline figures tell a reassuring story: overall unemployment across the European Union remains low, with EU unemployment at about 5.8% in 2025, down from 6.0% a year earlier. Youth unemployment has also declined in many countries, indicating that even entry-level opportunities persist for most workers. 

In some sectors where AI tools are already in use, work has been reshaped rather than eliminated. A European study found that 30% of EU workers now use AI at work, especially for text tasks like writing and translation, and that digital tools have become nearly universal (90%) across workplaces. 

Here you can find the full research. 

Many workers report that AI helps them perform tasks more efficiently or take on different responsibilities. At the same time, employers are actively reassessing job roles because of AI, with about 71% of European firms reconsidering job responsibilities due to AI implementation and over a quarter reducing hiring or cutting roles as a direct result of AI deployment. 

Beneath these numbers lie subtler shifts. Firms across the EU are becoming cautious about hiring, in part because of economic slowdowns and in part because AI adoption is changing how work gets done. Economic indicators suggest employment growth across the EU will slow in the coming years, with fewer vacancies and reduced labour market dynamism even as AI use spreads. 

The most visible tension is at the intersection of perception and preparation. On the one hand, public statements like London’s mayors reflect a palpable fear of displacement. Sectors such as finance, legal services, and customer support, pillars of many European economies,  are widely considered vulnerable to automation and generative AI technologies. 

Detailed labour data suggest that many jobs are being reshaped at the task level, even if entire job categories are not yet disappearing wholesale. For example, AI is automating routine text production and data tasks while increasingly augmenting analytical and oversight functions. 

On the other hand, there are signs of adaptability. Governments and institutions are launching initiatives to reskill workers and embed AI fluency into professional development. Across Europe, digital skills gaps remain significant; only 56% of adults aged 16-74 had basic digital skills in 2023, well below the EU’s target, indicating the scale of upskilling needed. 

Educational efforts range from vocational programs to industry partnerships that teach AI-related skills. For example, private training providers across the EU are expanding online programs in data science, analytics, and AI competencies, reflecting a growing recognition that skills matter as much as technology itself.

It would be a mistake to frame this moment as simply a binary between jobs lost and jobs saved. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 predicts both creation and disruption, with employers foreseeing demand for entirely new roles even as others change or shrink.

The report finds that technologies, including AI, are expected to create millions of new jobs globally while displacing an estimated number of others, highlighting the scale of transformation. 

There is also a policy dimension that can’t be overlooked. European institutions are experimenting with social safety nets and active labour market policies that aim to cushion displacement and support transitions.

Proposals like a European AI Social Compact argue for strategies that combine employment support, training, and social protections as central to economic planning. 

National governments are debating everything from expanded unemployment support tied to training to tax incentives for companies that invest in human capital alongside AI. These measures acknowledge that the future of work is not simply about machines replacing people, but about how people and machines can be integrated into resilient labour ecosystems.

Yet challenges remain. Entry-level opportunities, the traditional gateway for recent graduates, are tightening in many sectors as employers increasingly use automated systems in recruitment and candidate screening.

Surveys suggest broad concern among young job seekers about prospects in an AI-transformed market, even where overall employment remains stable. 

Some employers are re-imagining entry paths by embedding AI training into internship programs, while others are partnering with universities to co-design curricula that emphasize AI-augmented work. These efforts signal that adaptation is possible, but they also highlight how uneven the transition has been so far.

What Europe faces now is not a single story of mass job losses or unrestrained job growth. It is a mosaic of experiences, where headlines of risk and reports of adaptation coexist. The labour market is not static; it is reacting to technology, to policy, to fear and hope in equal measure.

If there is a throughline, it’s this: Europe’s future of work will be shaped not just by the capabilities of artificial intelligence, but by choices about education, regulation, and social support.

The decisions policymakers and employers make today will tilt the balance between disruption and opportunity. In that sense, the conversation is less about whether AI will change jobs; it already is, and more about how Europe navigates the change.

That is the reality workers, firms, and governments must confront together.

This reminds me of the well-known anecdote in Romanian political history in which Ion I.C. (Ionel) Brătianu, asked by historian and politician Nicolae Iorga what a scholar could learn from an engineer, replied with just that phrase, a call for moderation and thoughtful judgment: “Measure, sir, measure!”

Thus, measure, thoughtful regulation, and worker-focused policy will make sure AI supports people’s work, protects rights, and steers technological change toward shared opportunity, not making them unemployed.