As more companies adopt agentic AI in hopes of replacing or making human workers more efficient, one top economist
has noted that customer service roles—particularly those overseas—are only growing.
Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok noted
in a recent blog post that from 2016 through 2025, call center employment in the Philippines has risen each year, nearly doubling to 2 million over the 10-year span.
He also found that from 2021 to March 2026, unemployment rates in the Philippines
have decreased from 9% to about 4%, suggesting AI has not displaced offshore workers.
(In India, unemployment has remained steady at around 7%. The Philippines
dethroned India as the largest call center employer about 15 years ago.)
Offshore call center jobs began booming in the
late 1990s and early 2000s as a cost-cutting measure. The labor is considerably cheaper overseas than in the U.S., with Filipino call center workers earning wages of
15,000 to over 120,000 Philippine pesos per month, or about $243 to $1,948.
But these jobs are also among the most susceptible to AI displacement. The Brookings Institution estimated that
86% of customer service representative tasks had high automation potential.
The apparent contradiction points to a centuries-old economic paradox reflected across labor more broadly, according to Slok.
“This is Jevons paradox in action,” he wrote. “As AI makes call center work cheaper and faster, companies are buying more of it, not less.”
—Sasha Rogelberg
