Economic growth is a more prominent driver of Europe’s office-based employment growth than AI adoption
According to Savills latest research, economic growth is a more prominent driver of the EU’s office-based employment growth on a historical basis than AI adoption.
Although AI is highly adopted across the Nordics and Benelux markets, they are high-income economies where employment growth is slower due to nearly full employment, rather than AI displacement.
The international real estate advisor says that in the professional services sector, AI-related concerns of lower future employment resulted in a number of service providers’ company valuations recording sharp falls. However, as it stands, the EU’s job vacancy rate for the professional services sector is in line with the pre-pandemic average at 2.4%. In the UK, Savills Central London data indicates that professional services’ live occupier requirements are at their strongest level on record, indicating that demand remains strong, even if leases are taking longer to complete due to ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
AI companies continue to expand across Europe at an aggressive pace in 2026, says Savills. For example, Databricks signed for 13,000 sq m at the Rock, Amsterdam, after taking 100,000 sq ft at Derwent’s Network building at end 2025. OpenAI has announced plans to open its first permanent London office in 2027, and Anthropic its intention to expand in Paris and Munich.
Mike Barnes, director in Savills European commercial research team, says: “Companies are coming under increasing pressure to illustrate how they are utilising AI to reduce costs, given the amount they have already invested in such applications. Even the more-responsive employment market in the US shows that, despite corporate announcements of job cuts, particularly from listed companies, the actual number of monthly job layoffs remains in line with the long term average.”
Christina Sigliano, EMEA head of global occupier services at Savills, says: “AI may create disruption, but it also signals intent to grow: firms investing in AI are demonstrably more likely to be hiring going forward.
“Over the medium to long term, employees will adapt and harness new skills, supporting economic growth across the EU. This should support office-based employment growth of circa 4% over the next ten years, according to Oxford Economics, creating additional demand for office space.”