GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids company is laying off hundreds as part of a shift toward "technology and automation."
Acrisure, a global insurance brokerage, announced on Wednesday it will reduce its accounting workforce by around 400 employees, 200 of which work in West Michigan.
In a statement provided to FOX 17, the company said the cuts, which will begin to take effect early 2026, come "as the company continues to advance in technology and automation, which are driving systemic changes across industries."
On Thursday, I spoke with Paul Isely, the Associate Dean and Professor of Economics for the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University, about the impact of these job losses.
“Well, I’m not worried about the company," Isely said. I am concerned for the people, and I am concerned that it will be a bit of a hit on the Grand Rapids economy."
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Isely says the layoffs, by his estimation, could do $20 to $30 million dollars of damage to the economy of Michigan's second largest city.
They're part of a larger shift in what work looks like this decade.
"Well, innovation happens in an S curve, right?" Isely said. "There's a slow part, then there's a really fast part, and then there's a really slow part again."
As the rise of computers and the internet caused job losses in the 90s, Isely says artificial intelligence is causing similar change in the 2020s.
"What we're seeing is automation coming to the bookkeeping side of accounting," he said.
Notably, in 2020, Acrisure acquired an artificial intelligence insurance business, bringing "best-in-class data science, AI, and machine learning capabilities to the insurance brokerage industry," according to a release.
"If what you're doing is taking money from one place and moving it to another — moving an account, doing those types of things — it's relatively straightforward to do it by automation, and that's what's happening," Isely said.
In many such cases, the positions poached by artificial intelligence are entry-level.
"You talk to anybody who's got college-age kids, you know it's not easy to get a job in this environment," said Austan Goolsbee, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who recently stopped in West Michigan to speak with local business leaders.
"What we don't know is," Goolsbee said at the time, "Is that an indicator that the business cycle is turning — that it's the beginning of recession — or is it simply a feature of an AI environment where entry-level talent is getting replaced with new technology?"
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As it relates to Acrisure, Isely says the layoffs, though "painful to individuals," can be considered a "healthy" reality in an economy that works to grow with technology.
"When we reach the end of this tunnel, we'll be better off as a society," he said. "But we have to pay attention to those who have been harmed as we climb this path of innovation."
"How do we bring people along?"
