The U.S. job market is giving workers plenty of reasons to feel both optimistic and uneasy.
Employers added 172,000 jobs in May, easily beating economists’ forecasts of between 80,000 and 88,000 new positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
But artificial intelligence was blamed for 40% of all job cuts announced that same month, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the most-cited reason for layoffs and the highest monthly total since the firm began tracking it in 2023.
For recent graduates entering this divided landscape, the question of where to focus a job search has taken on new weight.
Mark Cuban’s case for small business AI jobs
In a June 2 post on X, Cuban argued that small businesses are the smartest starting point for anyone looking for a job today.
Cuban wrote that small firms generate roughly 60% of new jobs each year, and that AI helps them compete with larger rivals.
Cuban has cited a Goldman Sachs survey finding that 76% of small businesses currently use AI, but only 14% have fully integrated it into their core operations, suggesting most are still in the early stages of adoption.
“The smallest businesses don’t have the depth of expertise in AI. They need the help,” Cuban wrote in a follow-up reply on X.
“Kids coming out of college have that expertise,” he added, pointing to new graduates as a solution to the gap.
Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images
Federal data backs the small business hiring track record
Cuban’s claim that small firms create the majority of new jobs finds broad support in federal employment data over multiple decades.
Small businesses created 12.9 million net new positions over the 25 years through 2021, versus 6.7 million from large corporations, according to the SBA Office of Advocacy’s April 2022 Small Business Job Creation fact sheet.
More recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows firms with fewer than 250 employees accounted for 51% of net job creation between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2025.
Related: Capital One warns small business owners are solving the wrong problem
AI is cutting jobs and creating demand simultaneously
The tension between AI layoffs and AI opportunity grew sharper in May, and data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas underscored the divide.
U.S. employers announced 97,006 job cuts last month, up 16% from April and the highest May total since the pandemic shutdowns of 2020.
The outplacement firm found that 38,579 of those roles were cut for AI-related reasons, the highest monthly total since tracking began in 2023.
“Companies are restructuring aggressively as they reposition for an AI-driven economy,” Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer, said in the report.
Cuban pushes back on claims that AI only shrinks small teams
When an X user argued that smaller companies simply use AI to reduce headcount, Cuban responded with a direct rebuttal. “Not true,” Cuban replied on X. “They use it to do things they didn’t have enough time to do before.”
His core argument is that millions of smaller firms lack both the budget and the expertise for AI, creating opportunities for outside talent.
Learn all you can about AI, but learn more about how to implement it in companies, Cuban said on the TBPN podcast, as Moneywise reported.
More AI:
- Micron sits at the center of a red-hot chip rally
- IBM CEO sends blunt message on AI and quantum computing
- Anthropic CEO makes shocking admission about AI
He made a similar point on a September episode of The Dumbest Guy in the Room podcast, saying there would be “two types of companies in this country: ‘There’s going to be those who are great at AI and those who used to be in business,’ as reported by CNBC.
A February 2025 St. Louis Fed analysis found that workers who used generative AI saved an average of 2.2 hours per week.
A separate Stanford and MIT study of roughly 5,000 customer support agents found that productivity gains were skewed toward novice workers, who saw a 34% improvement, while senior staff saw minimal effects.
The hiring environment for new graduates is tight
Millions of students graduated this spring and entered one of the toughest hiring environments for new graduates in recent years.
Job postings for entry-level roles are down 2% from the prior year and 12% below pre-pandemic levels, according to Handshake’s Class of 2026 graduation report.
Job postings for entry-level roles are down 2% from the prior year and 12% below pre-pandemic levels, according to Handshake’s Class of 2026 graduation report.
When one X user joked that small businesses compress five years of career growth into 14 months, Cuban replied with one word: “Facts.”
How the AI talent gap could reshape where you look for work
The data paints a picture broadly consistent with Cuban’s argument, even if no single social media post can capture the full reality.
Large corporations are spending billions on AI infrastructure while cutting their workforces, and SBA data shows small firms have led job creation for decades.
For graduates entering a market where competition for fewer postings is fierce, Cuban argues the biggest career opening may not come from the companies with the biggest names, but from the ones that most need fresh AI expertise
Related: Mark Cuban backs small businesses hiring a million new grads
#Mark #Cuban #exposes #hidden #opportunity #workers