ResumeBuilder
US job-search and resume platform that conducted a March 2026 survey of 1,000 hiring managers on AI attribution in layoffs.
ResumeBuilder's March 2026 survey of 1,000 hiring managers found 59% admitted overstating AI's role in layoffs, while only 9% said AI had genuinely replaced any roles at their firm.
Last refreshed: 27 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
If 59% of managers blame AI for layoffs falsely, what is actually driving job cuts?
Timeline for ResumeBuilder
Mentioned in: Monday.com denies AI drove 630 job cuts
AI: Jobs, Power & MoneyMentioned in: Goldman cut 2% and refused the AI excuse
AI: Jobs, Power & MoneyMentioned in: Ford and IBM start undoing AI cuts
AI: Jobs, Power & MoneyMentioned in: Tracker logs 267 layoff rounds in 2026
AI: Jobs, Power & MoneyPublished survey finding 59% of managers overstated AI as layoff reason
AI: Jobs, Power & Money: The AI layoffs nobody is countingBackground
ResumeBuilder.com is a US commercial career-services platform offering resume templates, cover-letter tools and job-search guidance, part of a cluster of career sites, including Resume.org, that regularly commission online surveys of hiring managers and workers.
Its surveys use opt-in online panels rather than probability samples and are not peer-reviewed, making them faster to produce than official Labour statistics but weaker as evidence: a self-reported admission from a non-representative panel is not the same as a verified measurement of what caused a layoff.
Despite that limitation, ResumeBuilder's findings have become a recurring reference point in the AI-jobs debate because it is one of the few sources willing to ask employers directly whether their own AI framing is honest; readers should weigh its findings alongside government data and academic research rather than as a stand-alone verdict.
Its survey found managers exaggerate AI
ResumeBuilder's March 2026 poll of 1,000 hiring managers found 59% admitted overstating AI's role in layoffs because the narrative reads better to investors and the public, while only 9% said AI had actually replaced job roles at their organisation; managers pointed instead to financial underperformance, restructuring and post-pandemic overcorrection as the real drivers.
The finding sits close to Oxford Economics' Independent estimate that genuinely AI-driven cuts made up only about 4.5% of US layoffs in 2025, a Rough corroboration from a different methodology, and to a June tracker that still found 56% of companies citing AI, showing the gap between stated and actual causes persisting through the year.
Why do companies blame AI for layoffs when AI is not really the cause?
What did the ResumeBuilder survey find about AI and layoffs in 2026?
Is ResumeBuilder a reliable source for jobs data?
How many jobs has AI actually replaced in 2026?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 27 July 2026. Editorial standards.