White-Collar Jobs Shrink While Economy Throws One Hell of a GDP Party
KEY POINTS
- •From 2010 to 2019, finance, insurance, and consulting added about 569,000 jobs per year but lost 191,000 annually over the past three years.
- •Employment in these sectors peaked in November 2022, then declined 1.9%, while private sector jobs outside those fields grew 4.1%.
- •Gad Levanon from Burning Glass Institute said these white-collar sectors drive 40% of U.S. GDP but are now shrinking due to tech-driven automation and pending AI advances.
Brace yourself for a 2020s economy plot twist: finance, insurance, media, and consulting sectors—the so-called 'white-collar core' generating over 40% of U.S. GDP—cut nearly 2% of their workers since November 2022, even as the economy vaguely grew like that neighborhood cactus. From adding about 569,000 jobs annually in 2010–2019, they’ve reversed course by losing 191,000 employees yearly over the past three years. Gad Levanon of Burning Glass Institute revealed these highly educated paper shufflers caught in a brutal three-step dance: pandemic over-hiring in 2021-22, ruthless 2023-24 process automation, and prepping for imminent AI layoffs in 2025-26. Apparently, humans juggling spreadsheets are about as indispensable as fax machines at a Zoom party.
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White-collar jobs went on a diet starting 2020, shedding millions while GDP bulked up like it’s prepping for a finance-themed Strongman competition. It’s like the economy invented a new sport: profits up, people down, and AI standing on the sidelines chuckling.
Turns out AI isn’t stealing white-collar jobs, humans just got really good at firing each other since 2020. It’s corporate self-sabotage meets burnout.
Finance, insurance, and consulting just proved you can lose millions of workers while the economy pretends it’s the hottest party. Spoiler: no one was invited.
Source: Axios | Published: 2/12/2026 | Author: Neil Irwin
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