Entrepreneur and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang is warning that millions of Americans could lose their jobs this year.
In a new blog post titled ‘The End of the Office,’ Yang said artificial intelligence will continue to replace white-collar workers, with some jobs being seen as “obsolete” based on AI’s current capabilities.
“How many roles essentially consist of processing information and then presenting it to someone to make a decision? Now not only the process and report will be automated, but perhaps the decision as well,” Yang wrote.
“This will result in the great disemboweling of white-collar jobs.”
Why It Matters
Job market numbers over the past year have not been as promising as many economists would hope.
In the last year, the United States created 181,000 net jobs out of a total of 158 million jobs. Collectively, 2025 saw fewer additional jobs than during the Great Recession recovery period, despite the U.S. not currently being in a recession.
What To Know
Yang said the impending automation wave will “kick millions of white-collar workers to the curb” in the next 12 to 18 months.
“As one company starts to streamline, all of their competitors will follow suit. It will become a competition because the stock market will reward you if you cut headcount and punish you if you don’t,” Yang said.
Workers who sit at their desks and work on the computer most of the day are especially at risk, with mid-career office workers likely to be fired “in droves,” Yang said.
Currently, there are about 70 million white-collar workers in the United States. Yang said that number will be reduced substantially by 20 to 50 percent in the next several years.
Millions of workers are about to be given their pink slips,” Yang said. “The most vulnerable are middle managers who have become more expensive. What will they do next? They’ll look for another job. Good luck with that as job search times have already been climbing and corporations are going to be loathe to hire.”
Long term, the real issue for most Americans will be adaptability, said Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast.
“People will need to upskill, shift functions, and lean into what machines can’t replicate. Ten years ago, ‘content creator’ wasn’t a viable lane, now it’s an industry. The same pattern will repeat,” Thompson said.
“Jobs we can’t see today will emerge tomorrow. The question isn’t whether AI replaces work, it’s whether individuals evolve with the market.”
What People Are Saying
Yang wrote in a new blog post: “In essence, the number of people necessary to make large corporations function is going to be dramatically reduced. What do you say if your child asks you about becoming a newspaper journalist? You say, ‘Well, that field hasn’t really been growing, you might want to consider something else.’”
“Substitute ‘programmer/designer/accountant/lawyer/finance/marketing/consulting/analyst/researcher/anything-that-involves-looking-at-a-computer-and-going-to-an-office’ and you’ve got the right idea.”
Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: “AI will absolutely cause disruption, and some white-collar roles will be displaced. But the 20 to 50 percent workforce wipeout narrative feels alarmist. Could bankruptcies or mortgage delinquencies tick up in certain sectors? Possibly. That’s what happens when industries adjust, but nothing today suggests a systemic unwind like the GFC. This isn’t a leverage-driven housing collapse; it’s a productivity shift. And if productivity rises, capital and labor tend to reallocate, not disappear.”
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek: “The value shifts to people who design, oversee, or integrate AI, not those who execute repetitive knowledge tasks. You get a debt and delinquency feedback loop. Job loss or reduced hours for office workers feed into higher credit card, auto, and mortgage delinquencies. That depresses consumer spending, hits local economies, creates pressure on banks and lenders.”
HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek: “The bigger problem is that society isn’t built for this level of disruption. We don’t have universal basic income. We don’t have robust social safety nets. We don’t have meaningful wage protections tied to productivity gains from AI. Instead, we default to this tired narrative of personal responsibility as if individual budgeting can solve structural economic shifts.”
What Happens Next
Yang urged the workers likely to be impacted to cut their expenses and take precautionary measures.
“This has left the lab and is now at a desk beside you. Only it doesn’t even need a desk – too expensive.”
Personal bankruptcies are likely to increase in the coming year as Americans tap into their savings post-layoffs, he added.
“People and families are going to be left behind in large numbers. Of course, where financial ills and stresses increase, social ills follow in terms of broken relationships, addictive behavior and despair,” Yang said.
“I’m sorry I don’t have better news here. But it’s going to get very rough out there for a lot of people. Make a plan. Be adaptable.”
