The Workforce AI Index · Financial Services
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-A)
A holding company with four stated counts. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-03-02. Ranked 15 of the 15 Financial Services companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
A holding company whose filing states headcounts for its insurance, railroad, energy and manufacturing businesses, so four patterns come from stated counts and the remainder from the businesses it describes.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 21% now, 30% at the end of 2027, 34% at the end of 2028, 35% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 35% desk work, 16% people work and 48% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 62% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 29% becomes checking a model's work and 7% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
387,800 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). Approximately 80% of the 387,800 are in the United States.
The filing: “Berkshire and its operating subsidiaries employed approximately 387,800 people worldwide at the end of 2025, of which approximately 80% were in the United States ("U.S.") and 19% were represented by unions.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 45% | By (a): the filing states that its manufacturing businesses employed approximately 175,600 people at the end of 2025, 45% of the total; they span industrial, building and consumer products, so the manufacturing sector pattern rather than one group. |
| Retail Trade | 29% | By (c): the remaining 110,600, after the four stated counts, are McLane's wholesale distribution, Pilot's travel centers, the retailing businesses and the service businesses, which the filing describes without counts; retail trade is the nearest pattern for the largest part. |
| Insurance Carriers | 11% | By (a): the filing states that its insurance businesses employed approximately 42,600 people at the end of 2025. |
| Rail Transportation | 9% | By (a): the filing states that BNSF Railway had approximately 35,000 employees at the end of 2025, about 30,000 of them union members. |
| Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution | 6% | By (a): the filing states that Berkshire Hathaway Energy employs approximately 24,000 people in its utility and energy operations. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 19% represented by unions overall; about 30,000 of BNSF's 35,000 are union members; each subsidiary sets its own policies under a decentralized management philosophy.
What the filing says about AI
2 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI twice, both in its description of data privacy and AI laws and regulations that apply to the information it stores and the tools it uses; it describes no use of its own.
- “Data privacy and artificial intelligence laws and regulations have been enacted or are under development in various jurisdictions in the U.S. and throughout the world.”
- “These regulations address numerous aspects related to the security of personal information that is stored in our information systems, networks and facilities and the use of artificial intelligence tools.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 387,800 | 2026-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 392,400 | 2025-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 396,500 | 2024-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 383,000 | 2023-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 372,000 | 2022-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 360,000 | 2021-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 391,500 | 2020-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 389,000 | 2019-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 377,000 | 2018-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 367,700 | 2017-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 331,000 | 2016-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 316,000 | 2015-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 302,000 | 2014-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 288,500 | 2013-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 271,000 | 2012-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 260,000 | 2011-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 222,000 | 2010-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 246,000 | 2009-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 233,000 | 2008-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 217,000 | 2007-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 192,000 | 2006-03-13 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 180,000 | 2005-03-15 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 172,700 | 2004-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 147,000 | 2003-03-27 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 110,000 | 2002-03-29 | 10-K |
| 2000-12-31 | 112,000 | 2001-03-30 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 51,500 | 2000-03-29 | 10-K |
| 1998-12-31 | 47,600 | 1999-03-30 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The 110,600 people outside the four stated counts (McLane, Pilot, retailing and service businesses) are placed in retail trade by description (c); McLane is wholesale and the service businesses vary.
- A holding company of unrelated businesses: the manufacturing count takes the sector pattern because the filing gives no split among its industrial, building and consumer product businesses.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001193125-26-083899, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 21% now and 34% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Berkshire Hathaway Inc. employ?
- 387,800 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 80% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 5 industry staffing patterns, the largest Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 35% desk work, 16% people work and 48% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 2 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.