GoKawiil
Tech News
The Labor Department reported only 29,000 new jobs in September 2026, far below the 90,000 economists expected, while unemployment edged up to 4.2% from 4.1%. Revisions cut a combined 60,000 jobs from July and August figures, and annual wage growth slowed to 3%, its weakest pace since May 2021.
Lyft has agreed to pay $272.5 million to resolve a lawsuit filed in 2020 by the California Labor Commissioner's Office, which accused the company of wrongly classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The case alleged drivers were denied minimum wage, overtime, sick leave and timely wage payments between April 2016 and December 2020. The settlement still requires court approval, and the Labor Commissioner's Office says it will forgo its share so funds go directly to drivers who filed wage claims.
A new McKinsey report estimates that artificial intelligence and automation could displace roughly 11 million US workers, about 7% of the country's workforce, forcing them to change professions by 2035. The report suggests AI may ultimately create more jobs than it eliminates, even as it drives what it calls a historic workforce transformation.
An analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by journalist Joseph Politano found the US has lost more than 200,000 jobs in creative industries over the past four years, with nearly 50,000 of those losses in the last year alone. The steepest declines hit digital fields like graphic design, broadcasting, publishing, film and sound recording, while museum and performing-arts jobs grew even as independent-artist employment fell sharply.
San Francisco startup PitPro Automation has installed a robotic tire-changing system in a Calgary tire shop, using two cube-shaped robots on a track with sensors and robotic arms to locate and store lug nuts. The company says the machine can complete a full tire swap in about 15 minutes, and it plans to expand into standardized chain stores and the broader Canadian market.
Commentary on tech industry layoffs points to a broader trend: the US labor participation rate has dropped to levels last seen in the 1970s. Observers argue that the focus on layoff headlines obscures this larger shift, which they link partly to the growing use of AI in workplaces.
Workplace researchers describe a pattern called 'hushed coping,' in which employees—especially women—retreat to private spaces to vent frustration or cry, then return to work projecting calm. The behavior is driven by fear of appearing overly emotional or unprofessional, according to the reporting, but it can leave managers unaware of real problems and limit support for those struggling.
An Entrepreneur opinion piece argues that business costs, already elevated due to years of supply chain disruption, are being further strained by a resurgence in union membership. The author notes union membership reached a 16-year high in 2025, fueled largely by younger and minority workers joining organized labor.
NPR's Planet Money traced the origins of the real-time order-tracking animation now common across delivery and service apps back to Domino's, which built the Pizza Tracker in the mid-2000s after dropping its 30-minute delivery guarantee. The tool launched before the 2006 Super Bowl and let customers watch their order's progress from placement to delivery. Design director Shuya Gong told NPR the pattern has since been adopted by companies like Uber and repair shops, and that she has designed similar trackers for banks and TurboTax.
A new analysis reports that as generative AI tools take over drafting, analysis and content creation, founders are spending less time producing work and more time deciding what should represent their business. Citing Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index, the piece notes 82% of business leaders see this as a pivotal year for rethinking operations due to AI, with nearly half expecting to expand capacity through digital labor within 12-18 months. The core argument is that AI can generate output but cannot take responsibility for it, leaving leaders accountable for outcomes.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest consumer price index shows grocery costs climbed 2.7% between August 2025 and August 2026. Over a longer stretch, the same basket of food items now costs 33% more than it did in August 2019, reflecting a sustained multi-year rise in food expenses.
In an essay titled 'What Will Become Scarce,' economist Alex Imas argues that as AI takes over most economically necessary labor, the jobs that remain for humans will center on relationships rather than skills or output. He compares this shift to pre-industrial economies, where goods and services were inseparable from the social bonds of the people providing them.