Klarna's chief executive expects a third of the company's remaining jobs to go by 2030, and credits AI

In the employer's own words: said by the company's chief executive in a recorded interview. This cut has not happened yet and is not counted in the verified job-loss totals. Klarna's chief executive said he expects the company to shrink from about 3,000 people to fewer than 2,000 by 2030, a reduction of roughly a thousand roles. He was explicit that he is not planning a layoff: the company loses about 20% of its staff to natural attrition each year, people stay around five years, and the plan is simply not to replace them. What ties it to AI is his reason for believing the work still gets done. Asked how the company keeps shipping with fewer people, he said he had seen the acceleration of AI and knew the existing organisation could carry the load. Klarna has said elsewhere that its customer service assistant handles the equivalent work of 800 full-time agents. The company has already halved in size since 2022, from roughly 7,000 people, through a mix of layoffs and attrition. Nothing here has happened yet and none of it counts toward the verified job-loss totals: a target for 2030 is a statement of intent, and attrition that is never reversed is the quietest way a job disappears.