While AI is often cited as one of the reasons for mass layoffs, particularly in the tech sector, it also appears to be creating new jobs in many companies at fast-growing companies, according to a study released Tuesday by financial services firm Ramp and employment database Revelio Labs.
“Our initial finding is that it looks like companies are starting to look for more entry-level talent, probably people who are more AI-savvy,” said Ara Kharazian, the senior economist at Ramp, a financial services firm, which noted a surge in hiring by companies around the time they began investing heavily in AI.
The study tracked the AI spending and headcount of nearly 22,000 U.S. companies between January 2021 and February 2026.
It found that companies that invested more in AI increased their workforce by an average of 10% in the two years after adopting the technology. Companies that made the largest AI investment increased hiring for entry-level jobs by 12%.
“If you are looking for a job or graduating from college and choosing between two different companies that are otherwise similar, I would choose the company that uses AI,” Kharazian said. “Our study shows that this company will grow faster.”
The early and heavy AI adopters spent more than $100 per month per employee on AI and led their employees to use advanced AI such as: B. Encoding subscriptions, as opposed to simple ChatGPT subscriptions.
The occasional, low-intensity AI adopters saw no hiring gains and reduced headcount.
The Ramp study showed a positive impact of AI on employment as it focused on companies adopting AI, many of them fast-growing, venture capital-backed companies that are hiring AI-native talent.
It came to a different conclusion than a November 2025 Stanford University study that looked at wage and salary data across the labor market and found that employment of young software developers had declined nearly 20% since its peak in late 2022.
The two findings could both be true, Kharazian said, because the Stanford study was broader and didn’t just focus on the companies using AI.
“Even though overall youth attitudes are weak, we found that attitudes are actually high among companies using AI and among companies using AI intensively,” he said.
In another recent study on AI’s impact on jobs, the California AI Unemployment Tracker examined the state across industries, education levels and regions and revealed some troubling trends.
It seemed to refute the understanding that AI has primarily harmed younger workers and young professionals.
Unemployment insurance claims for college-educated workers in high-AI occupations, such as customer service and software development, were found to increase after the release of ChatGPT in 2022 and remained elevated through May 2026.
Unemployment insurance claims from master’s and doctoral students in heavily AI-exposed jobs have also increased, moving from a base average of 13,000 claims per month in November 2022 to between 16,000 and 22,000 claims per month since mid-2023, the study found.
The study also categorized unemployment claims by age and found that a significant portion of claims came from people aged 36 to 65, suggesting that the impact of AI doesn’t just affect entry-level workers.
It also noted that the San Francisco Bay Area experienced a higher rate of insurance claims compared to the rest of California and that job loss claims were concentrated in the technology sector.
Tech companies laid off more than 160,000 workers in 2026, according to trueup.io, a website that tracks industry layoffs.
Many companies say AI has been one of the main reasons for layoffs. Meta, Oracle, Microsoft and other major technology companies have laid off tens of thousands of employees while investing billions in AI data centers.
Ramp’s findings that strong AI adoption can lead to more hiring suggests that some of the companies announcing large layoffs may be blaming AI for periodic cost cutting, a practice known as “AI washing.”
“If you hear CEOs talking about layoffs and they attribute it to AI, I would be skeptical,” Kharazian said.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-07-04/want-ai-proof-job-new-research-says-you-may-be-safer-at-companies-embracing-technology
