AI Jobs in Southern England: Three in Ten Roles Set to Change, Southampton Report Says

AI jobs in southern England face a period of change rather than disappearance, a University of Southampton report unveiled on 5 November 2026 found. About three in every ten jobs across the South of England are in occupations that artificial intelligence is set to change, and exposure in Hampshire and the Solent runs slightly above the England average. In most industries the researchers expect AI to help with tasks rather than replace jobs outright, but about 55,000 workers, roughly 5% of the regional workforce, are in a more vulnerable group, in jobs where AI could absorb much of the routine daily work.

The report was commissioned by Sue Littlemore, the university's Director of Civic University, and presented to a regional business conference on 5 November. It gives the clearest picture yet of how AI is likely to reshape work in one English region, and its message is mixed: widespread change, concentrated risk. The occupations most exposed are the ones built on information, analysis and administration, while jobs that depend on being physically present or dealing with people face the least direct exposure.

At a glance	Southampton report on AI and jobs
Report	University of Southampton, unveiled to a regional business conference on 5 November 2026
Jobs set to change	About three in ten across the South of England
More vulnerable group	About 55,000 workers, roughly 5% of the regional workforce
Most exposed sectors	Public administration, ICT, finance and professional services
Least exposed sectors	Care, hospitality and construction
Recommendations	AI skills training, public sector modelling good practice, a transition guarantee

What the Southampton report found on AI jobs in southern England

The biggest changes fall on public administration, ICT, finance and professional services, the sectors where information processing and analysis make up most of the working day. Care, hospitality and construction are the least affected, because the work depends on physical presence and direct contact with people. Littlemore summed up the pattern as information, analysis and admin roles feeling the largest shift, while jobs that depend on being physically present or dealing with people are less directly exposed.

That pattern echoes what the Bank of England found nationally. In its November Monetary Policy Report, published on 5 November 2026, the Bank said AI is slowing hiring rather than causing layoffs, with firms leaving vacancies unfilled instead of dismissing staff. AI jobs in the UK face a quiet hiring freeze, the Bank said, and the Southampton findings fit the same picture at regional level: roles changing shape faster than they disappear. The same pattern is playing out beyond Britain. AI is already reshaping hiring in South Korea, where young graduates are turning to factory work, and workers in the UAE fear AI job losses in a separate survey. The difference in the south of England is that the exposure is mapped in detail, sector by sector, so workers can see whether their own occupation sits in the exposed group or in the safer one.

Who is most at risk in the southern workforce

Women, part-time workers and people midway through their careers are over-represented in the more vulnerable group of about 55,000 workers. Those are the workers whose daily routines contain the largest share of work that AI tools can already absorb, such as drafting, data handling and scheduling. The report does not say those jobs will vanish, but it places them in the group where the change will be felt first and hardest, and where retraining will matter most.

The report's answer is practical rather than alarmist. It recommends AI skills training, a programme in which the public sector models good practice, and a transition guarantee to retrain and redeploy those most at risk of losing their jobs. The idea is that workers whose roles change should be moved into new work with support, rather than left to face the change alone. For workers in the exposed sectors, the useful step is to treat AI skills as a CV asset: short courses in using AI tools for drafting, spreadsheets and scheduling are widely available free of charge, and they apply directly to the administrative work the report identifies as most exposed.

What the region is already doing about AI

A companion paper from the university, titled Fifty ways Hampshire and the Solent are shaping Britain's AI revolution, says the proportion of businesses in the area that use AI has doubled over three years. The examples it gives are concrete: an AI assistant answering public enquiries for Hampshire's police, and University Hospital Southampton using AI to improve breast screening images. Professor Les Carr of the university's Web Science Institute pointed to the region's big employers in defence, aerospace, maritime and life sciences as the base for that growth.

For jobseekers in the south of England, the report's message is to aim where hiring and change overlap. Roles that pair AI tools with human judgement, such as data analysis and skilled trades, are less exposed than routine administrative posts, and the region's defence, aerospace, maritime and life sciences employers are the ones investing most heavily in AI. Those employers are worth watching for openings, since the companion paper names them as the base of the region's AI growth, and they are the firms most likely to be hiring for AI-adjacent roles rather than cutting them. Workers already employed in the exposed sectors should ask their own employer what AI training is available, since the report calls on the public sector to model good practice, and public administration is itself one of the most exposed sectors. The transition guarantee the report proposes would retrain and redeploy those most at risk, but until such a scheme exists, the practical step is the one the report puts first: build AI skills now, while the change is still gradual, rather than waiting for it to arrive as a redundancy notice.

Sources: Resultsense at https://www.resultsense.com/news/2026-11-06-southampton-report-ai-jobs-hampshire-solent/ on the University of Southampton report findings, figures and recommendations, published 6 November 2026; Bank of England November Monetary Policy Report at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2026/november-2026 on the national hiring picture.