Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape Australia's labour market by slowing hiring rather than triggering widespread job losses, with recruitment in several white-collar occupations already showing signs of weakening, according to The Australian, citing Deloitte Access Economics' latest Employment Forecasts report.
The report, highlighted by The Australian, suggests the impact of AI on employment is emerging unevenly across industries and occupations.
While businesses have announced restructures, redundancies and hiring changes linked to automation and AI over the past year, the broader labour market has yet to experience large-scale job losses. Instead, employers appear to be taking a more cautious approach to recruitment as they evaluate how AI fits into their operations.
White-collar roles exposed
Using Deloitte Human Capital's Work Analyser tool, the report identified 82 occupations that are highly exposed to AI disruption based on the extent to which their core tasks can be automated compared with those requiring human input.
Many of these occupations are concentrated in financial services, professional services and information media. Systems analysts, project administrators, payroll clerks and a range of clerical roles are among those most exposed to AI-driven disruption.
Recruitment slows first
The analysis found that AI exposure does not automatically translate into job losses. Instead, the most visible signs of disruption are emerging in recruitment, with vacancies across several AI-exposed occupations weakening as employers become more selective while assessing AI's role within their organisations.
According to the report, this pattern reflects previous periods of technological change, where organisations initially slow hiring and redesign workflows while retaining existing employees.
Growth outlook diverges
Deloitte expects employment growth in AI-disrupted occupations to remain positive over the next five years, although at a slower pace. Annual employment growth is projected to decline from an average of 1.9% over the past five years to 1.2% under a baseline scenario without AI. Once AI adoption is incorporated into the modelling, growth is expected to slow further to just 0.5% a year.
By contrast, occupations centred on judgement, creativity, leadership and interpersonal skills are forecast to benefit from AI adoption. Employment growth in these AI-enhanced roles is expected to rise from 0.9% to 2.2% annually over the same period.
Demand reshaped
The report argues that the debate over whether AI will create or eliminate jobs oversimplifies the reality. Instead, AI is expected to reshape labour demand by slowing growth in some occupations while increasing demand in others.
Over the longer term, the impact on employment will depend less on the technology itself and more on how organisations redesign work and integrate AI into business operations. Current evidence suggests businesses are primarily using AI to augment human capability rather than replace workers.
Economic realities emerge
Deloitte also pointed to the growing cost of AI deployment as a key factor influencing adoption. As token-based pricing models become more common, organisations are likely to limit AI use to areas where it delivers the greatest value, rather than deploying it across every function.
The report concludes that organisations capable of combining human judgement with AI while redesigning work accordingly are likely to achieve the strongest productivity gains. At the same time, businesses are encouraged to review their workforce strategies, while employees are urged to upskill and retrain to remain competitive in an increasingly AI-enabled labour market.