{"id":22669,"date":"2026-02-17T17:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=22669"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:24:24","slug":"klarnas-ceo-thinks-his-white-collar-workforce-will-shrink-by-a-third-by-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=22669","title":{"rendered":"Klarna’s CEO thinks his white-collar workforce will shrink by a third by 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As AI spells doom for white-collar jobs, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski is providing a transparent look at how his company is shrinking its workforce in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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While about 40% of employers expect to cut their workforces in response to AI automating tasks, how much is an open question. Siemiatkowski expects his workforce to decrease from 3,000 to fewer than 2,000 by 2030, but he doesn\u2019t foresee any layoffs, he recently said on the \u201c20 VC\u201d podcast hosted by venture capitalist Harry Stebbing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rather, Klarna is relying on \u201cnatural attrition\u201d of about 20% each year, he said, adding that employees spend an average of five years at the company before leaving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for that is because I\u2019ve seen the acceleration of AI, and I know we can ship all these things on the existing organization,\u201d Siemiatkowski said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Klarna launched an OpenAI-powered customer service chatbot in early 2024 that the company claims can do the work equivalent of 800 full-time agents. The \u201cbuy now, pay later\u201d platform debuted on the NYSE last September with a $1.37 billion IPO and was valued at $15 billion at the time. The company\u2019s stock price has fallen about 59% since its IPO.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Klarna has more than halved its workforce since 2022, going from more than 7,000 employees to less than 3,000. Siemiatkowski previously said that he believes that AI is capable of doing all jobs, including his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not necessarily super excited about this,\u201d he previously wrote on X. \u201cOn the contrary, my work to me is a super important part of who I am, and realizing it might become unnecessary is gloomy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The future of the workforce<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Siemiatkowski has previously called out other \u201ctech bros\u201d for not being \u201cto the point\u201d about AI disruption because of fear of negative backlash. He says he does not want to be \u201cone of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has emerged as a vocal advocate for preparing for a large-scale disruption in the workforce. Last year, he warned AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level jobs and lead to an unemployment rate between 10% and 20%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more in Dario\u2019s camp. I want to be honest about the fact that I do think there\u2019s going to be a very big shift,\u201d Siemiatkowski said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more like Elon that it might lead to a golden age of humanity where you know AI does more of jobs and more people can enjoy themselves and do other things, that we can have a richer society,\u201d Siemiatkowski said, referring to Elon Musk\u2019s prediction that work will be optional in 10 to 20 years due to AI and robots taking over most roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Siemiatkowski shared one part of Klarna\u2019s business he thinks AI could never replace: employees who work directly with retailers, and where business depends on relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have people in Portland talking to Nike. I have people in China talking to Shein. I have people in Amsterdam talking to Adyen,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m still gonna argue that it\u2019s going to be vital to offer a human connection there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Siemiatkowski said that while the company has shrunk, it has increased employee compensation by nearly 50% due to higher profits, creating a safety net for employees, even as their jobs may disappear due to AI.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an optimist at heart, but I also want to be a realist around what\u2019s going to happen in the shorter term, and it\u2019s going to be a lot of turmoil in this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Klarnas #CEO #thinks #whitecollar #workforce #shrink<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As AI spells doom for white-co… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[542,529,516,8404,522,735,13413,2188,7031,892,12550,1561],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}