The State of AI and Job Losses

The AI Infrastructure push is having us question our future in a different society. Here's why that matters to jobs.

AI is hitting middle management and the 2025 numbers back it up.

Good Morning,

As I write this to you the U.S. Government is in its most prolonged shutdown ever (with some light at the end of the tunnel) and so we have no official jobs report. Unfortunately the shutdown of the federal government — now the longest-running in US history — has delayed two consecutive job reports from the Labor Department. Amazon just reported the largest layoffs in its corporate history, anywhere between 14,000 and 30,000 layoffs and at most around 10% of its total corporate workforce.

It’s actually fears of an AI bubble and a lack of ROI that’s worrying stock markets, and not the onslaught of job losses or a tightening labor market that has precious little to do with AI (so far).

According to a November 6th, 2025 Challenger report, U.S.-based employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, up 175% from the 55,597 cuts announced in October 2024.

So what’s going on? Unprecedented Tech layoffs to pay for AI capex and Infrastructure bets and a flattening of middle management in an efficiency drive, among other things. Also on Wednesday of last week, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced a bill that would require companies and federal agencies to submit quarterly reports of “AI-related job effects.”

All I can say is if you are interested in this topic, you are probably missing out. I wanted to rant and share some infographics around this trend that I found most fascinating in the last few weeks. There’s a lot of misunderstanding and false narratives about what is going on between AI and the labor market. The future of jobs is a topic I really care about and watch closely. Things are about to get weird in 2026. Here’s why:

Tech Layoffs in Focus