Technology, AI & the U.S. Labor Market

AI’s effects on labor markets are now measurable across three broad categories: knowledge work, manual labor, and transportation, and the three are moving at different speeds.

In knowledge work, AI was the leading cited reason for U.S. layoffs for five months of 2026 and early-career hiring in AI-exposed occupations is running well behind; in manual work, a record 603,000 industrial robots were installed in 2025 while humanoids remain at pilot scale; in transportation, driverless rides are sold to the public in 15 U.S. metros and driverless freight runs daily on Texas highways.

This section summarizes the current state of AI and related technology in the context of the economy and labor market, provides tools and resources to track it, and connects each thread to the property types it touches. Refreshed October 2026.