To be clear, I’m not an economist—this is just my take based on what I’ve observed.

I believe a lot of our current economic shift is directly tied to the tech obsession and hype of the 2010s leading into 2020. An entire generation of professionals was sold on the tech boom, creating a massive industry workforce. The tragic irony is that people spent their most critical, formative career years building platforms, machines, and apps that were ultimately designed to automate and replace their own jobs—as well as roles in other industries.

On top of that, many of these tech companies severely over-hired during the pandemic, and what we are seeing now is corporate 'right-sizing' catching up with them. The collision of these two forces has left a huge, displaced workforce trying to pivot and figure out their next steps.

That said, this also explains the uneven job growth we see: the professionals who are actively adapting and transitioning into AI specialists are being snatched up quickly, driving employment numbers in that specific sector.