The progressive implementation of generative AI for companies in Spain will lead to the loss of nearly 400,000 net jobs in the next ten years, according to Randstad Spain.

Randstad’s research showed that in the next ten years, the jobs that can potentially disappear with the adoption of AI by companies is 2 million while those that will be created as a result of the new economic opportunities that arise from the use of AI is approximately 1.61 million.

“With AI we are going to experience a new economic revolution, since it is estimated that globally 18% of work could be more or less affected by automation and global GDP could increase by 7% as a result of the boost to labour productivity,” said Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research in Spain.

Meanwhile, the adoption of AI means that 15.9% of current jobs (3.24 million) will see their productivity increased, while the rest of the current jobs (15.19 million) are expected to see no significant effects.

Randstad estimates that the sectors expected to be most negatively impacted will be commerce and administrative activities, which will experience a reduction in employment in the next decade by 158,415 and 147,915 jobs, respectively. This is followed by hospitality and logistics.

On the other hand, programming and consulting, telecommunications, media and publications, and professional, scientific and technical activities, are all expected to see increases due to the adoption of AI, with programming and consulting expected to see the biggest gain in the next decade (76,364).

When it comes to AI penetration among companies, Randstad noted that 54.5% of companies say that they do not use AI. The remaining 45.5% of companies that do use it acknowledge that they do so primarily for data analysis (49.2%), and optimisation of administrative tasks or process automation (36.1%).

By company size, large companies were found to use it more than small companies, Randstad noted.