The impact of AI on the workplace: Main findings from the OECD AI surveys of employers and workers

This report examines how and why AI is being implemented in the workplace; its impact on management, working conditions, and skill needs; its impact on worker productivity, wages, and employment; what measures are being put in place to manage transitions; and concerns and attitudes surrounding AI.

The report addresses the following subject areas from the surveys with individuals and organizations:

• A description of the survey methodology, descriptive statistics relating to the sample, and an assessment of respondents’ relationship with AI.
• Examination of the impact of AI on worker productivity and working conditions, as reported by respondents to the worker and employer surveys.
• Analysis of the impact on employment, job stability, and wages.
• Exploration of some of the main mechanisms driving these changes: how AI changes the nature of work, which tasks it automates, and which tasks it creates.
• Addressing the question of how AI has changed skills needs.
• Examination of the possibility that worker consultation can improve outcomes.
• Questioning whether AI is being implemented in a trustworthy and inclusive manner.

(This report is 157 pages long and is written in English, French, and German.)

The researchers identified the following selected findings organized by the survey questions:

• The surveys reveal that workers and employers in finance and manufacturing tend to be very positive about the impact of AI on worker productivity and working conditions.
• Nevertheless, workers express some concerns about the impact of AI on job stability and wages. In companies that had adopted AI, 20 percent of workers in finance and 15 percent in manufacturing said that they knew of someone in the company who had lost their job as a result of AI.
• AI is already transforming the nature of work. AI results in a high degree of task reorganization, with 66 percent and 72 percent of employers in finance and manufacturing, respectively, reporting that AI had automated tasks that workers used to do, while around half of employers in each sector reported that AI had created tasks that were not previously done by workers.
• The adoption of AI results in significant skill changes, which employers are addressing primarily through training.
• Consultation regarding the adoption of new technologies appears to be associated with better outcomes. The workplaces in which workers or worker representatives are consulted regarding new technologies are the same workplaces where the most positive impacts on worker productivity and working conditions are reported.
• Most workers trust their employers to make the right decisions regarding AI, but not all, suggesting that more can be done in this area.
• Included in those concerns, many workers support banning or restricting the use of AI in hiring and firing.

The researchers did not present recommendations.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2023
• Author(s): Lane, M., Williams, M., and Broecke, S.
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Damon Jones
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies