American workers are among the least optimistic about job prospects globally, as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes hiring across key industries, according to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report published Wednesday.

Job market optimism in the U.S. and Canada has fallen 23 points since 2019, dropping from 70% to 47%, placing the region second-to-last globally. The U.S. added just 181,000 jobs in 2025, a sharp decline from 1.5 million the prior year.

Manager Engagement Gap

Inside U.S. organizations, a leadership gap is widening. Gallup’s Q1 2026 U.S. workforce survey identifies manager-led AI adoption as one of the top two drivers of meaningful AI use. Yet fewer than one in three U.S. employees in AI-adopting firms strongly agree their manager actively supports the technology.

The cost of that gap is high. Employees with actively supportive managers are 98.7 times more likely to say AI has transformed how work gets done.

Productivity Promise, Hiring Pain

While 65% of U.S. workers in AI-adopting firms report personal productivity gains, only 12% strongly agree AI has fundamentally changed how their organization operates.

That disconnect is increasingly visible in labor market data and policy commentary. Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr warned in February that early-career workers in software development and customer service have already seen employment decline relative to peers in less AI-exposed fields. "For these workers, the short run may have long-term consequences," Barr said.

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook reinforced those concerns in March, cautioning that AI may deliver job displacement before job creation. "This outcome could cause hardship for many workers and their families," she said. Governor Chris Waller added that U.S. payroll employment may have declined in 2025, a rare occurrence outside of recessionary periods.

Corporate Cuts Deepen The Divide

Atlassian Corp. (NASDAQ:TEAM) announced in March it was eliminating roughly 1,600 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce, with CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes stating directly that AI changes “the number of roles required.” The same week, thousands of workers were cut at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) and Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF).

March’s jobs report offered a partial reprieve with 178,000 positions added, well above the 60,000 forecast. Healthcare led with 76,000 jobs, though federal government payrolls shed another 18,000.

Disclaimer: This content was produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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