If a company wants to reduce its headcount, there are several levers it can pull. It could freeze hiring in order not to grow any further; or when people leave the business, their roles may not be replaced. In 2025, there’s another option: Use AI to replace some of the roles managers would have otherwise recruited for.

According to the Fed’s latest Beige Book, businesses are doing all of the above (and more) to try and avoid announcing mass layoffs.

The result is that consumers are feeling less optimistic about their career options, without seeing their reality reflected in headlines about major job cuts. According to the Conference Board’s latest Consumer Confidence survey out this week, 27.6% of respondents said jobs were ‘plentiful,’ which was down from 28.6% a month prior. The number

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