AI may reshape 40% of jobs as IMF sees Asia growth lift

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday, Oct. 12, that artificial intelligence could reshape about 40% of jobs worldwide over time, a Forexlive news report citing Bloomberg and Reuters said.

The IMF chief also said AI investment could lift growth in advanced Asian economies by 0.5 percentage point to 1 percentage point, compared with global growth of about 3%, as an energy supply shock weighs.

Georgieva described AI as a "slow-moving tsunami" for labour markets as the IMF and World Bank annual meetings opened in Bangkok. The phrase points to a risk that builds gradually rather than through a single shock.

Georgieva said routine and repetitive work is already losing ground, while lower-paid work in sectors including construction is expanding. She said that combination should not be treated as a positive outcome.

Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, speaking at the same meetings, said demand is weakening for graduates' first jobs, with the clearest evidence in sectors most exposed to AI.

Singapore data cited in the report show about 74% of 2025 university graduates in the labour force found full-time jobs, down from about 88% for the 2022 cohort. The share unemployed and looking for work rose to about 10% from less than 4% over the same comparison.

The IMF estimate builds on research it published in January 2024. That work put AI exposure at roughly 60% of jobs in advanced economies, 40% in emerging markets and 26% in low-income economies, with about half of exposed roles in advanced economies potentially benefiting from the technology.

For executives and investors, Georgieva's remarks frame AI as both a labour-market disruption and a source of demand for capital equipment, data infrastructure and related services. The same investment cycle can support output while changing the distribution of income between workers and owners of capital.

Georgieva also warned that a shift away from labour income could weaken taxes on work, which she described as governments' main source of revenue. Atlas360 reported on Oct. 7 that Georgieva had urged fiscal tightening in indebted advanced economies as global debt pressures rise.

The scale of AI's effect on entry-level work is still disputed. A Harvard working paper cited in the report found junior employment fell by about 9% at companies using generative AI, relative to firms that did not adopt it.

A May 2026 study by researchers at the University of Warwick, the London School of Economics and Oxford reached a more cautious conclusion. It found much of the apparent effect on junior hiring diminished after accounting for exposure to remote work.

What to watch

On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the IMF's World Economic Outlook will show whether the fund keeps global growth near Georgieva's roughly 3% reference point or lowers it because of the energy supply shock.

The same release will show whether forecasts for advanced Asian economies reflect Georgieva's estimated 0.5 percentage point to 1 percentage point growth lift from AI investment.

The update will also indicate how the IMF balances AI-related capital spending against the drag from energy supply pressures in its growth forecasts.

Source: news report, Forexlive, Oct. 12, 2026