This chart may explain why your boss is taking longer to get back to you lately: They’ve got more underlings to watch over, Axios’ Emily Peck writes from a new analysis.

• Why it matters: Middle managers — i.e., bosses who have bosses — were already quietly going extinct, and now AI may be hastening the process.

By the numbers: 

People managers now oversee about twice as many workers as just five years ago.

• There are now nearly six individual contributors per manager at the 8,500 small businesses analyzed in a report by Gusto, which handles payroll for small and medium-sized employers.
• That’s up from a little over three in 2019.

🎨 The big picture: 

Big Tech has been shedding middle managers for the past few years, a process that’s been dubbed the Great Flattening.

• Reducing management layers is one of Microsoft’s stated goals in laying off thousands of workers this year as it ramps up its AI strategy.
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last year announced an effort to reduce managers (memo).