About a third of the jobs expected to be cut by Intuit in California in a pivot to artificial intelligence, or AI, are in San Diego. The company behind QuickBooks and TurboTax announced Wednesday it would lay off 1,800 people — roughly 10% of its workforce.
Why it matters
In an email to employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said Intuit is at a critical moment in its history.
"The era of AI is one of the most significant technological shifts of our lifetime. This is truly an extraordinary time – AI is igniting global innovation at an incredible pace, transforming every industry and company in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Companies that aren’t prepared to take advantage of this AI revolution will fall behind and, over time, will no longer exist."
Alan Gin, University of San Diego economics professor, said AI will be a game changer and will have an effect on the local economy.
“This is not the first, I'm afraid, of job losses that we're going to be seeing in the economy," Gin said. "The other losses are probably going to be in other areas outside of of tech, but it's going to play a big role.”
By the numbers
According to California's Employment Development Department, 599 people are being laid off from Intuit in California, and 215 are in San Diego.
"Most of them are good-paying jobs. So that's going to have an impact on the local economy," Gin said. "My estimate is that it will have at least a $20 million impact on the local economy. That's not big in the grand scheme of things, but to the people who are losing their jobs, it's it's a negative."
Intuit's San Diego office is in Rancho Peñasquitos. Gin said it's possible that a good number of those laid off live in the area, and it's possible that some of their homes will be going for sale.
Closer look
Intuit says it expects to hire about the same number of employees next year as those being laid off as the company expands its AI products and services.
In the meantime, laid-off employees will receive at least 16 weeks of severance pay and six months of health insurance.
