As the proliferation of AI and automation tools continues, questions about worker displacement and job transformation have intensified.
In response to growing uncertainty about AI and its potential to drive worker displacement through automation, SHRM embarked on a multiyear research effort in 2025 that seeks to bring clarity and provide a source of timely, objective data on automation, AI, and job displacement risk. This includes providing recurring, occupation-level estimates for the prevalence of task automation, AI usage, nontechnical barriers to automation displacement, and automation displacement risk based on large-scale surveys of U.S. workers.
The latest round of evidence in this line of research is based on data from the 2026 SHRM Automation/AI Survey, which was fielded in spring 2026 to renew our original 2025 estimates and break new ground in the study of automation, AI, and job displacement risk in U.S. wage/salary employment.
Our latest round of estimates suggests that about 1-in-5 wage/salary jobs in the U.S. are currently at least 50% automated, with high task automation often (though not exclusively) going hand-in-hand with high AI usage. However, nontechnical barriers to displacement are common, especially in many highly automated occupations. As a result, we estimate that just 5.1% of U.S. wage/salary employment (about 7.9 million jobs) currently face high automation displacement risk.
Inside the 2026 Edition
- Estimated share of wage/salary employment that exhibits high task automation, both overall and by major occupational group
- Estimated share of wage/salary employment that exhibits high AI usage, both overall and by major occupational group
- Estimated prevalence of nontechnical barriers to automation displacement, both overall an by occupational group
- Estimated share of wage/salary employment that faces high automation displacement risk, both overall and by occupational group
Practical Takeaways from the 2026 Report
Our findings broadly support the assertion that automation and AI tools have already become central in many different occupations, though exposure varies widely. However, nontechnical barriers to displacement are also extremely common, often in occupations that are highly automated and/or have high AI usage. For this reason, we estimate that only about 1-in-20 wage/salary workers (about 7.9 million jobs) face high displacement risk.
Our work in this area to date vividly illustrates the need for each organization to carefully monitor and plan for the integration of automation and AI tools in their workforce. While AI adoption will undoubtedly lead to some worker displacement in specific contexts, it seems increasingly likely that the role of AI and advancing automation technology will gravitate toward transforming (rather than eliminating) human labor.
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