Despite the widespread adoption of agentic AI aimed at replacing or augmenting human workers, the reality of the global labor market presents a starkly different picture. While leaders like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff have slashed thousands of customer service roles, offshore employment — particularly in the Philippines and India — continues to skyrocket.

The Jevons Paradox in the AI Era

According to Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo, the current trend is a modern manifestation of the "Jevons paradox." In 1865, economist William Stanley Jevons observed that the increased efficiency of the Watt steam engine led to higher coal consumption, not less. Today, AI is making call center work cheaper and faster, prompting companies to purchase more of it rather than less.

The data is revealing. In the Philippines, call center employment has nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching 2 million workers by 2025. Simultaneously, unemployment rates in both the Philippines and India have trended lower from 2021 through July 2026, defying predictions that AI would displace white-collar work at scale in these outsourcing hubs.

Productivity and the Human Touch

Technology is not merely replacing humans; it is boosting their efficiency. A study by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab found that AI-based conversational assistants increased agent productivity by an average of 14% per hour. Furthermore, despite automation potential, experts highlight several key factors sustaining human roles:

  • AI is not yet sufficiently trained to navigate the complexities of certain nuanced problems.
  • Human interaction remains a valuable brand asset, offering customers a sense of being "seen" rather than being just a number.
  • Lower costs per interaction allow companies to open more channels and reach markets previously considered too expensive.

The case of U.S. radiologists serves as a historical parallel: a decade ago, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton predicted they would be obsolete, yet their numbers have grown by 10% over the last ten years, with the field currently facing a significant shortage.