The labor market's surprising bright spot – and how to turn it into a job
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.


Job listings that mention AI terms are surging, even as the overall labor market looks weak, per new data from the jobs site Indeed.
Why it matters: Everyone's braced for AI to take their jobs, but for now the new technology appears to be an actual bright spot in an otherwise grim labor market — particularly for white-collar professionals.
How it works: Indeed analyzes its job postings for mentions of AI-related keywords like "artificial intelligence," "large language models" and "ChatGPT."
- Those listings are up 134% since February 2020, when the site first began tracking. Overall job postings are only 6% above that pre-pandemic baseline.
By the numbers: AI job postings made up 4.2% of overall postings by the end of 2025, up from 1.9% two years ago.
- Put another way: Around 1 in 25 job listings now reference AI.
Zoom in: The increase in listings that mention AI isn't just happening in tech-centric jobs — it's across every occupational sector, from sales and accounting to banking and marketing.
- The trend is most prevalent in white-collar work.
Between the lines: Just because a job posting mentions AI, doesn't mean the job actually involves much work with the new technology.
- About a quarter of these jobs mention it in a performative way, per Indeed research from last year.
- Listings say things like "we are an AI-first company" or "familiarity with AI" is wanted.
- "Employers are clearly signaling that they're interested in what AI can do," says Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed's Hiring Lab. "But a lot don't necessarily know what they want to do with AI."
The big picture: The job market, it turns out, is behaving a lot like the rest of the economy — which has become increasingly dependent on AI for growth.
Yes, but: Could it be that AI is also the culprit behind the overall slowdown in the job market? Many economists, including Indeed's Stahle, say no.
- The weak labor market appears to be more a result of the Federal Reserve's moves to raise interest rates in 2022 and 2023 — Indeed's data shows listings starting to fall in March 2022 before the release of ChatGPT.
- Still, it's also the case that some companies are holding back on hiring as they look to adopt a new and potentially labor-saving technology, as Axios' Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown recently wrote.
The bottom line: If you're looking for a job, it's a good time to put some AI keywords in your résumé.
