British companies are reducing hiring for jobs that are more likely to be disturbed by artificial intelligence (AI), a study revealed.
The analysis of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co revealed that the overall number of employment posts was down 31% in three months to May, compared to the same period in 2022, according to a Bloomberg report.
However, the drop in assignments has proven to be the most pronounced in roles that should be more affected by the deployment of AI, such as technology or finance. The lists of these roles decreased by 38% during this three -month period, which almost double in autumn has found elsewhere.
Tera Allas, main advisor at McKinsey, would have said: “The anticipation of significant productivity gains -although uncertain -, especially since technology and its applications ripen, encourages companies to examine their labor strategies and to suspend aspects of their recruitment.”
Find out more: The Bank of England could reduce interest rates more quickly if the job market slows down, says Bailey
Some large companies have already suggested that their workforce will be affected by AI. For example, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently warned that the deployment of AI throughout technological society would likely lead to job discounts in the years to come. Meanwhile, the CEO of BT Group (BT-AL), Allison Kirkby, said last month that progress in AI could deepen the job cuts already underway in the telecommunications company.
McKinsey’s study occurs while data indicates a broader slowdown in the British job market. The figures from The Office for National Statistics, published in June, showed that the unemployment rate of the United Kingdom has increased to 4.6% in April, the highest level since July 2021. Meanwhile, an early estimate of payroll employees in May 2025 fell by 109,000, or 0.4%.
In addition, the ONS data has shown that the estimated number of vacancies in the United Kingdom has dropped from 63,000 in the quarter, to 736,000 in March to May 2025.
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said in a Interview over timePublished on Sunday, that the central bank is ready to further reduce interest rates if the British labor market is starting to show clear signs of slowdown.
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