U.S. call-center jobs now 39% below trend: Goldman
NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES — Call center employment in the United States is 39% below historical trend, while Canada sits 33% below and Germany 27%, according to a Goldman Sachs Research report analyzing artificial intelligence (AI) hiring effects across more than 800 occupations in major developed economies.
AI squeezes call center hiring hardest, Goldman finds
Elsie Peng, a Goldman Sachs Research economist, writes that the new analysis allows Goldman economists to “dig deeper into AI’s impact on the labor market so far,” examining both AI’s substitution of human tasks and its augmentation of worker output across more than 800 occupations.
The Goldman Sachs Research report via CNBC, published August 19, 2026, found that industries with greater AI exposure have generally seen slower job openings growth since the second half of 2022, with information and communication services, software publishing, and management consulting all showing staffing levels below historical norms alongside call centers.
Call center employment in the United States is 39% below trend, making it the most AI-disrupted sector in Goldman’s analysis of developed economies.
Entry-level workers absorb AI’s heaviest hiring pressure
Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said “Hiring has also increased over last year by 25%, so while AI is shifting the labor market, it is not dismantling it.”
Goldman’s analysis found that for every 10% increase in AI exposure, annual staffing growth falls by 0.2 percentage points in the United States and by more than 0.6 percentage points in Australia, with entry-level roles absorbing the largest negative effects.
AI-related layoff announcements reached 112,713 through July 2026, representing 24% of all cuts tracked by Challenger, Gray & Christmas across U.S. employers.
Challenger noted that “naming AI in a layoff announcement can win over investors while pushing current and prospective employees away,” suggesting the reported AI employment figures may understate actual AI-attributed workforce reductions.
AI is producing a measurable shift in where employment growth concentrates, not a wholesale collapse, but the shift falls hardest on entry-level workers in sectors where AI can substitute for their work.
The call center employment trend Goldman documents represents a structural shift rather than a temporary correction, and offshore staffing operators in the Philippines are navigating the same change by building AI-augmented delivery models that retain the human-in-the-loop functions cost-justified after automation.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) operators that have restructured contact center delivery around AI supervision, escalation handling, and complex case resolution are positioned to absorb demand from organizations reducing their own AI-exposed headcount while maintaining service coverage.
Leading BPO operators with AI-integrated contact center and back-office platforms are positioned to attract organizations that need the productivity gains Goldman’s data shows AI is delivering, without carrying the entry-level employment risk that comes with direct hiring.
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Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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