New Data Shows AI Anxiety Moving From the Front Office to the Front Lines

“The Resilience Deficit: Labor Workers in an Automated Economy,” the April 2026 edition of the “Wage to Wallet Index,” is a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence, WorkWhile and Ingo Payments. It examines how artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping the economic and job outlooks for lower-income hourly workers at a time when the public debate has focused far more on white-collar jobs.

The report shows that Labor Economy workers don’t stand outside the reach of workplace technology. In many cases, they are already dealing with it. More than one in three say their employer introduced new automation or AI in the last 12 months. Yet the report finds that support has not kept pace with that change. Among workers directly affected by new tools, most say they did not receive training, leaving many to face workplace change with limited guidance and little sense of control.

The findings also suggest that the impact of AI on lower-income workers extends beyond the workplace and into household financial stability. Labor Economy workers are less confident in their ability to find comparable-paying work if technology eliminates their current roles. They are less likely to say they have savings or emergency funds to fall back on if hours are reduced. They are also more likely to rely on government assistance when income falls short.

In that sense, the report is not just about workplace tools. It is about weakening financial resilience. As AI spreads across the economy, the workers with the smallest financial cushion may face the greatest pressure to adapt. For banks, payroll providers, FinTechs and employers, that creates a broader challenge around income stability, worker preparedness and financial support.

Download “The Resilience Deficit: Labor Workers in an Automated Economy” to learn more.

In “The Resilience Deficit: Labor Workers in an Automated Economy,” learn how:

AI is reaching hourly workplaces faster than many assume. The report shows that automation has spread beyond office settings and technical roles to a meaningful share of Labor Economy workplaces, even when it has not yet fully changed day-to-day job duties.

Confidence gaps reveal who feels most exposed to disruption. Labor Economy workers report lower confidence in job stability, weaker belief that their skills will stay valuable and less certainty that they can recover from technology-driven job loss. Those gaps help explain why AI can feel more threatening to this group.

Financial fallback options shape how workers experience workplace change. When hours are cut or job roles shift, workers don’t all have the same options. The report shows clear differences in how Labor Economy and non-Labor Economy workers expect to manage lost income, from tapping savings to seeking extra shifts or outside assistance.

About the Wage to Wallet Index

The “Wage to Wallet Index” is a monthly study that tracks how wage growth, income access and job stability among 60 million essential U.S. workers impact household resilience, consumer demand and overall economic performance. This report is based on a survey of 32,464 U.S. adults. Analyses of data on automation, training, displacement and fallback are based on 2,369 respondents. The report compares the sentiments of Labor Economy workers, defined here as hourly workers earning no more than $25 an hour and typically less than $50,000 annually, with those of non-Labor Economy workers earning above those levels.