For years, the warning has been the same: AI is coming for jobs. But the data from businesses actually using it shows otherwise. Small businesses using AI are four times more likely to say it helped them hire than say it led to cuts, according to the 2026 AI Impact Report from Intuit QuickBooks. It's a sign that the technology is fueling growth, not layoffs.
This finding comes at a moment when more Americans than ever are betting on themselves. One in 3 U.S. adults (33%) says they plan to start a new business or side hustle in 2026, a 94% jump from last year, according to the Intuit QuickBooks Entrepreneurship in 2026 report. Entrepreneurship now ranks as the number one wealth-building strategy in the U.S., ahead of saving, investing, or earning more at a traditional job.
But there's a difference between starting a business and building one that grows. Of the 473,679 business applications filed in August 2025, only about 28,725 are projected to become employer businesses within 12 months, according to the Census Bureau. Hiring is the leap that separates a side hustle from a growth business, and the businesses that grow in 2026 will be the ones that use AI to make that leap with confidence.
Investing in AI is a way to grow your team, not make cuts
The 2026 AI Impact Report, built on surveys of more than 34,000 small and midsize businesses conducted from July 2024 to January 2026, combined with anonymized data from more than 5.3 million QuickBooks businesses, found that businesses using AI are far more likely to report gains than losses:
- More hiring, not less: The most striking finding is what AI is doing to hiring across all four countries tracked in the report. In these countries, businesses using AI are more likely to say it has increased employment than decreased it. In the U.S., four times as many businesses report AI-driven hiring as report cuts.
Intuit QuickBooks
The gains don't stop at headcount. Among U.S. businesses using AI:
- Higher productivity: 78% say it has improved their productivity, up from 46% when tracking began in July 2024.
- Revenue growth: 43% report that AI increased their revenue, versus just 2% who report a decrease, a gap of more than 20 to 1.
- Time back in the day: 27% say AI has shortened their workday, compared with 8% who say it's gotten longer.
That changes the math on hiring. When the same team can produce more, serve customers faster, and win back hours in the day, every dollar you invest in an employee works harder.
Hiring is the moment your business gets real
Aspiring business owners routinely misjudge what things cost. According to the Entrepreneurship in 2026 report, Americans believe it takes an average of $28,000 to start a business, while current owners report a median actual startup cost closer to $12,000, less than half the imagined number.
Employee costs get misjudged the same way, but in the opposite direction. A salary is only the visible part. The true cost of an employee also includes:
- Payroll taxes, which cover local, state, and federal taxes like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment
- Employee benefits, such as health insurance and paid time off
- Overhead expenses and ancillary costs, like equipment, supplies, and training
That's not a reason to hold off on hiring. But it's important to know your number before you make a new hire. The report found that more than half of aspiring entrepreneurs (52%) say they lack confidence in essential financial tasks like managing cash flow and handling taxes. And 71% say that lack of financial knowledge makes it harder to reach their financial goals. Getting a clear picture of your per-employee cost is one of the fastest ways to close that confidence gap.
Why the number matters: Payroll is personal
More than half of business owners (54%) say they've skipped or reduced their own pay at least once in the past year to keep bills or payroll covered, according to the 2026 Intuit QuickBooks Business Owner report. And the margin for error is thin: A single late payment from a customer threatened payroll or bills for 39% of owners in the past year. For 12% of owners, a late payment of less than $1,000 was enough to cause financial trouble.
When margins are that close, guessing at your labor costs is a risk you can't afford. Knowing the full cost of each employee helps you set prices that actually cover your costs, protect payroll through slow months, and time your next hire with confidence.
The work you should never automate: Your people
If AI is doing more of the routine work, what's left for people? According to owners: everything that matters most.
Across every country tracked in the 2026 AI Impact Report, employee management and legal decisions consistently rank at the bottom of AI use cases. Businesses are deliberately drawing a line, keeping judgment-heavy, relationship-driven work in human hands even as AI takes on more of the routine tasks around it.
The Intuit QuickBooks Business Owner report tells the same story from a different angle. When it comes to high-stakes decisions like cutting costs or growing revenue, 37% of owners say they'd trust a human expert, compared with just 20% who would trust an AI tool alone (another 34% would trust both equally). And looking ahead five years, the largest share of owners (42%) predict an AI-assisted future, one where they still lead the business, and AI provides leverage. Only 6% expect AI to drive the majority of their decisions.
The takeaway for employers: Your competitive advantage in 2026 isn't the tools. It's investing in people whose judgment, creativity, and relationships can’t be replicated by technology.
Hiring to help your business and your community grow
Investing in people is how small businesses build the communities around them.
Three in 4 owners (76%) say they plan to strengthen their local communities in the next five years, and job creation leads the way: 41% plan to hire local residents, according to the Business Owner report.
The bottom line
Running a business takes a well-documented toll. The Business Owner report found that 82% of owners made significant personal sacrifices in the past year, with half (50%) giving up sleep or rest. A well-planned hire isn't just a growth strategy but how owners get back their own time, health, and headspace, and build a business that can eventually run without them, which is how the largest share of business owners (35%) now define success.
But growth in 2026 means people, and people cost more than their wages — payroll taxes, benefits, and overhead all add up. The data suggests the businesses that thrive will be the ones that know their real numbers and invest anyway.
This story was produced by Intuit QuickBooks and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
