Kristalina Georgieva, managing director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says an artificial intelligence (AI) “tsunami” is reshaping the global labour market and could transform 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies.
Georgieva spoke on Friday during a panel session on the global economic outlook at the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
“We are researching what is actually happening in labour markets, and there are three important observations,” she said.
“Number one, massive transformation of demand for skills. We expect 60 percent of jobs to be affected by AI (either enhanced or eliminated or transformed) in advanced economies, over the next years, and 40 percent globally. This is like a tsunami hitting the labor market.”
Additionally, Georgieva said on a micro-level, in advanced economies, one in 10 jobs is already enhanced and the people in the jobs are paid better.
“When they’re paid better, they spend more money in the local economy; they spend more money in restaurants here and there,” she said.
“Demand for low-skilled jobs goes up, and actually, total employment seems to slightly increase because of it.
“But there are two very serious problems. The first one is that tasks that are eliminated are usually what entry-level jobs present, so young people searching for jobs find it harder to get a good placement.”
Georgieva said that even jobs not directly affected are now paying less, so the middle class is bound to feel the impact.
She questioned the “guardrails” set by countries to safeguard the jobs.
Georgieva said AI is advancing faster than society’s ability to manage it in a safe and inclusive way.
The MD added that it is moving so fast, ”and yet, we don’t know how to make it safe and inclusive”.
The IMF boss asked countries not to fall into complacency as economic growth is not strong enough.
On January 19, the IMF reviewed global growth projection to 3.3 percent for 2026 — from its October 2025 forecast of 3.1 percent in 2026.
The fund also reviewed Nigeria’s economic growth rate upward to 4.4 percent in 2026 — from 4.2 percent.
Commenting on the projection, she noted that debt-to-gross domestic ratio (GDP) is a significant factor for countries to consider.
“One thing I want to appeal to all of us is do not fall into complacency, growth is not strong enough. The debt that is hanging on our neck that is reaching 100 percent of GDP is going to be a very heavy burden,” Georgieva said.
“All of a sudden, 3.3 percent looks like a very good growth. What happened? We used to say that growth is not enough.
“Now, I hear in so many conversations that ‘the IMF upgraded our growth projections from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent’. What a beautiful story. It is beautiful but not enough.”
Furthermore, she asked countries to pay more attention to growth and “those that are falling off and we are kind of losing sight of them”.
