During an interview at Semafor’s World Economy summit this week, Blake Lawit, LinkedIn’s Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer, shared insights from the platform’s extensive data. He confirmed that hiring activity on the Microsoft-owned professional network has fallen by approximately 20% since 2022. However, Lawit directly countered the notion that artificial intelligence is responsible for this downturn.

“At LinkedIn, we maintain an economic graph covering over a billion members, along with data on companies, jobs, and skills. This provides a remarkable real-time perspective on the labor market,” Lawit explained. “We’ve examined the data closely because everyone is asking whether AI is currently affecting jobs. Honestly, we haven’t observed that impact.” Instead, he attributed the hiring decline primarily to increasing interest rates.

Lawit elaborated that the expected AI-related disruptions in specific sectors have not materialized in LinkedIn’s findings. “We have not seen the kinds of effects you would anticipate in the areas most discussed—whether in customer support, administrative roles, or marketing. These are the fields where AI impacts would likely appear first,” he stated. “Yes, hiring is down, but it is not down more in these areas,” he added.

The data also showed that the reduction in hiring for recent college graduates entering the workforce is consistent with trends across other career stages; it is not disproportionately affecting younger job seekers. Despite the current analysis, Lawit acknowledged the situation could evolve. “This doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future, but it hasn’t happened yet,” he noted.

Looking ahead, Lawit offered a cautionary observation. He pointed out that the skills required for the average job have changed by 25% over recent years. With the ongoing advancement of AI, LinkedIn projects this figure will reach 70% by 2030. “So, even if you’re not changing jobs, your job is changing on you,” he concluded.