Showing 41 results for:
unemployment
Popular topics
All results
More than 1 million people have lost their jobs already in 2025. Many people are out of a job this year, and this includes more than 300,000 Black women, according to The Root. This also comes at a time when diversity is under attack — with federal dollars being used as bait — and Americans are feeling the effects of a government shutdown. In Big Tech alone, there has been a string of layoffs this year at media companies, including Paramount, VIBE, and Teen Vogue, as a result of mergers, as well as other companies that include Meta, Microsoft, Starbucks, Oracle, American Airlines, and, most recently, Amazon. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Amazon will lay off 14,000 corporate workers, and AI is partly to blame. “This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet,” Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said in a memo. “We’re convicted that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and...
Black women are facing increasing economic challenges today. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over 300,000 Black women have lost their jobs or have exited the workforce. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, along with Trump’s tariffs, has contributed to these losses. Times are hard, and many are being stretched to make ends meet. Adding to these challenges, the stalling of SNAP benefits under the government shutdown is impacting millions of Americans. In addition, homelessness is at an all-time high , according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s most recent 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. The study cites that homelessness rose by 18% since 2023, meaning roughly 118,000 more people experienced homelessness in 2024 compared with 2023. For some, like 22-year-old Imani, the instability of today’s landscape has made it increasingly difficult to secure employment and...
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy addressed the company’s recent layoffs during its quarterly earnings call on Oct. 30, saying the decision to cut 14,000 corporate positions was based on cultural factors rather than financial or AI-related reasons, Fortune reports. “The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now at least,” he said during the call. “It’s culture.” The Amazon layoffs, which largely affected middle management, followed a June 2025 memo, according to a previous Fortune report. In it, Jassy said that advancements in AI have increased efficiency across the company. In a separate internal communication, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, described the restructuring as an effort to adjust to the “transformative technology” of AI. Amazon’s workforce has grown significantly in recent years. The company currently employs about 1.55 million people worldwide,...
Paramount has launched a new round of layoffs affecting staff across CBS Entertainment, MTV, BET, and other divisions, The Wrap reports. The cuts, which began Oct. 29, are part of the company’s restructuring under new CEO David Ellison following its merger with Skydance Media, which officially closed in August, according to a Paramount press release. The first phase will impact about 1,000 employees, with an additional 1,000 to 2,000 expected to be let go in the coming months, per The Wrap. Those affected include several longtime television executives, among them Paramount Global Content Distribution head of marketing Teri Fleming; CBS Entertainment senior vice presidents of current programming Pamela Soper and Amanda Palley; BET senior vice president of scripted programming and development Rose Catherine Pinkney; MTV head of music and celebrity talent Wendy Plaut; MTV/Paramount+ vice president of music program development and documentaries Amanda Culkowski; and CMT senior vice...
Amazon is planning significant workforce changes as it expands the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technologies. The company announced it will lay off about 14,000 corporate employees this year, according to CNN. The eliminations are part of a broader effort to simplify operations so that the company can move more nimbly through technology-driven changes. In a memo to employees, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, said the company will continue hiring in strategic areas in 2026 while also identifying “additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains.” The memo was published on Amazon’s blog. The reductions represent about 4% of the company’s corporate workforce, which includes more than 350,000 employees, CNN reported. Amazon layoffs are set to begin this week, and most affected workers will have 90 days to apply for internal roles. Those who cannot secure new positions will receive...
NBC News has reportedly laid off journalists reporting on marginalized communities, according to the Advocate. Restructuring In August 2025, NBC News reported that Comcast announced its various cable television networks would be moved into a separate publicly traded company called Versant. This umbrella would include MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and the Golf Channel. Comcast will maintain NBCUniversal assets, such as the NBC broadcast network, NBC News, NBC Sports, Peacock, and Bravo, under its portfolio. Why It’s Happening Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said the spinoff is about “building our individual identity and vision for the future while laying a foundation for the continued growth and success of our businesses,” according to NBC News. “This gives us the opportunity to charge our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin,” he added. Advocate reports that executives noted the restructuring...
Many Americans are asking, “Is the government still shut down?” As the standoff enters its sixth day, senators have returned to the Capitol seeking a deal to restore funding and reopen federal operations, CNN reports. Is The Government Still Shut Down? Yes, and the government shutdown, which began on Wednesday, Oct. 1, as AFROTECH™ previously reported, has already disrupted services nationwide. In Dayton, OH, residents encountered closed national parks and museums. According to another CNN report, Howard Patterson, a DHL worker, said he had planned a family visit to the Wright Cycle Company, part of the national park on aviation, but found it locked with a sign reading, “Due to the current lapse in federal government appropriations this site is closed to the public.” The political standoff centers on disagreements between Republicans — who fully control the federal government but lack the 60 votes needed in the Senate — and Democrats, who are demanding extensions of tax credits to...
The U.S. government officially shut down on Oct. 1, 2025, after lawmakers failed to pass a continuing resolution to fund federal operations before the fiscal year deadline. The question many are asking this week is simple: Is the government shut down? The answer is yes — agencies without approved funding have halted or reduced operations, marking the 21st time since the 1977 fiscal year, as ABC News reports. Is The Government Shut Down Right Now? According to the outlet, essential services — such as air traffic control, certain military, the U.S. Postal Service, and border security — continue to function, but many other public-facing offices and programs are closed or delayed. This shutdown began after Congress was unable to reach a deal on funding, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Republicans proposed a short-term measure to keep the government running for a few more weeks, while Democrats sought additional provisions, including extensions for health care benefits like the...
Starbucks is making significant changes to its North American operations. The coffee giant announced on Sept. 25 a $1 billion restructuring plan that includes closing stores and laying off hundreds of corporate employees, CNBC reports. According to the outlet, about 900 non-retail employees will lose their jobs. This marks the second round of layoffs under CEO Brian Niccol, following the reduction of 1,100 corporate workers in February 2025, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Starbucks Closing Stores Per CNBC, the number of company-operated stores in North America is expected to shrink by roughly 1% in fiscal year 2025. The plan could result in more than 500 Starbucks store closures across the U.S. and Canada, leaving 18,300 locations open, the outlet notes. CNBC reports that about $850 million of the $1 billion restructuring costs will be tied to store closures, with $150 million covering employee separation costs. CEO Niccol emphasized the changes in a letter to employees, saying...
Black women continue to face the highest unemployment rates in the United States, with joblessness rising to 6.7% in August. August’s figures follow several months of elevated unemployment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Black women have lost over 300,000 jobs since February — including 266,000 in March alone, a 2.5% drop and the sharpest monthly decline since mid-2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A July report showed that Black women faced nearly 6% unemployment, marking three straight month of high rates. The rate climbed from 5.1% in March to 6.1% in April, peaked at 6.2% in May, and dipped slightly to 5.8% in June. The trend is so alarming that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) urged Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to take action, calling for a detailed plan to address rising unemployment among Black women and uphold the Fed’s mandate to maximize employment for all, AFROTECH™ noted. “Black women are more likely...
As unemployment continues to rise among Black workers, particularly Black women , Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) is urging Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to address troubling new jobs data showing a disproportionate spike in Black unemployment. In a letter sent Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, Pressley called on the Fed to uphold its mandate to maximize employment and requested detailed data on the impact Black women’s employment, or lack thereof, has on the labor market. Pressley noted that 6.7% of Black women were unemployed in August — well above the national average of 4.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “This disparity should not go overlooked as unemployment of Black women is a key metric of the health of the U.S. economy,” Pressley wrote. The trend follows months of elevated unemployment rates that had already raised concerns among economists. As AFROTECH™ reported in July, Black women faced nearly 6% unemployment — the third consecutive month of high rates....
The jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released Sept. 5, highlights a continued slowdown in hiring, raising new questions about the strength of the U.S. economy. The report states that just 22,000 jobs were added to the economy in August. CNN reports that this number is far below economists’ expectations of roughly 76,500 new jobs. The unemployment rate also went up to 4.3%, from 4.2% in July. While still relatively low, this is the highest jobless rate since October 2021, per CNN. “After years of resilience, the U.S. job market looks increasingly fragile, especially after the latest numbers,” said CNN’s Matt Egan. Revisions to numbers from prior months reveal a weaker jobs trend than initially reported. According to Egan, June’s numbers shifted dramatically downward, from an initially reported gain of 14,000 to a loss of 13,000, marking the first monthly decline since December 2020. “That breaks nearly five years of uninterrupted job growth in the U.S. economy,”...
The impact of generative AI on the U.S. labor market is already visible in employment data, with signs of a hiring slowdown in the tech sector — especially among younger workers. On the Aug. 5, 2025, episode of the “Goldman Sachs Exchanges” podcast, Joseph Briggs, senior global economist at Goldman Sachs , noted that most companies have yet to implement AI in production cases, so its broader effect on the job market remains limited, according to CNBC. Still, current trends offer a sneak peek at what’s to come. “If you look at the tech sector’s employment trends, they’ve been basically growing as a share of overall employment in a remarkably linear manner for the last 20 years,” Briggs said, per CNBC. “Over the last three years, we’ve actually seen a pullback in tech hiring that has led it to undershoot its trend.” As highlighted in “Quantifying the Risks of AI-Related Job Displacement,” a recent report co-authored by Briggs, unemployment among tech workers aged 20 to 30 has risen by...
Microsoft is laying off approximately 9,000 employees, impacting less than 4% of its global workforce. On Wednesday, July 2, 2025, the second day of its 2026 fiscal year, the tech giant confirmed the move to CNBC via email, stating it will “continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace.” Microsoft — which employed 228,000 people worldwide as of June 2024 — has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, including letting 10,000 employees go in 2023. In January 2025, the company reduced its headcount by less than 1% based on performance. AFROTECH™ also reported that in May it laid off around 6,000 employees — roughly 3% of its global workforce. And the company cut at least 300 more in June. A source familiar with the matter told CNBC that, like with the May layoffs, Microsoft is aiming to streamline its organizational structure by reducing the layers of management between individual...
Microsoft is laying off approximately 6,000 employees, around 3% of its global workforce, as CNBC reports, marking the latest round of job cuts as the company continues to realign its business priorities. The move will affect workers across various teams and regions, though the company did not disclose specific departments or locations. A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC that the layoffs are part of organizational and workforce adjustments “to reduce layers of management” and not related to job performance. The spokesperson further stated, “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace.” Microsoft, which employed 228,000 people worldwide as of June last year, has conducted several rounds of layoffs in recent years. In 2023, the company cut 10,000 positions, according to CNBC . In 2024, Microsoft also laid off nearly 2,000 employees from its gaming division just months after a $69 million gaming...
