In September 2025, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, announced a reduction of 4,000 customer service positions, opting to have the remaining 5,000 employees collaborate with artificial intelligence (AI) agents. He emphasized the company’s need for efficiency, stating, “I need less heads.”
Despite the trend of companies integrating AI to enhance efficiency, economist Torsten Slok noted in a recent blog that customer service roles, particularly overseas, are on the rise. Data from the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines revealed that call center employment in the nation nearly doubled, reaching 2 million from 2016 to 2025. Unemployment in the Philippines has fallen from 9% to approximately 4%, indicating that AI has not displaced offshore workers.
Historically, offshore call centers gained popularity in the late 1990s as a cost-saving strategy, with Filipino workers earning significantly less than their U.S. counterparts. However, according to the Brookings Institution, 86% of tasks performed by customer service representatives are highly automatable.
Slok highlights a modern reflection of Jevons paradox, originally observed in the context of coal consumption, where increased efficiency does not lead to decreased demand, but rather the opposite. He asserts that as AI enhances productivity within call centers, the overall demand for jobs in this sector may continue to grow.
Economists have began seeing indications that AI can also bolster productivity among customer support agents. A recent study showed a 14% increase in productivity with the implementation of AI tools. However, contrary perspectives argue that AI still struggles with complex customer issues, and there remains a demand for human interaction, with many consumers valuing personal engagement.
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