All articles tagged with #workforce
Ohio is named CNBC’s 2026 Top State for Business, led by top Infrastructure and Cost of Doing Business scores, with strong site-readiness programs and a landmark $4.2B, 10-gigawatt data-center project; still, Education and Workforce remain weaknesses as the state plans a $300M JobsOhio effort to close its skills gap amid an affordability debate in the governor’s race.
Ford cut about 5,000 jobs since 2020 due to automation, but has rehired roughly 350 veteran engineers—the so-called “greybeards”—to augment AI-driven design and manufacturing checks after AI systems showed notable gaps. executives say AI is powerful but only as good as the data and expertise behind it, underscoring the enduring value of human experience on the factory floor.
A bipartisan group called RAISE US launches with $500 million from AI companies and other donors to retrain workers displaced by AI, led by former governors Gina Raimondo and Eric Holcomb. The pilots will roll out in several states, testing things like expanded service-year opportunities and updated unemployment-insurance for entrepreneurs, as part of a broader effort to ease the AI-driven transition without federal ownership or tax-overhaul proposals. The board includes labor and business leaders, with major donors such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, Bank of America, GM and Lilly, and the group plans to raise up to $1 billion overall.
Meta is ending its plan to compel 7,000 engineers into an Applied AI training unit and will now defer to individual choice, offering preferential placement in other parts of the company due to staffing shortages. The reversal follows backlash to the program and a broader morale crisis highlighted by CTO Andrew Bosworth, and comes after May layoffs that reduced about 8,000 jobs.
Rep. Sam Liccardo unveiled the SKILL Act, a policy to spur private investment in AI-ready training by authorizing $500 million annually in state-distributed tax credits for companies that fund curricula development, internships, apprenticeships, labs, and other learning initiatives at colleges and universities; eligible employers would get $2,500 for each student who completes a program and an extra $2,500 for each graduate they hire, with support from lawmakers like Rep. Jimmy Panetta and industry groups such as Nvidia, TechNet, the Digital Chamber, and the Chamber of Progress.
Centene is offering a companywide voluntary buyout program to trim payroll costs as part of broader cost-cutting efforts in its healthcare business.
Microsoft president Brad Smith says the surge of AI backlash at graduation events should be a wake‑up call for the tech industry to honor workers’ agency; AI is transformative, but graduates want control over chatbots and the future of work, and Microsoft aims to guide the transition while reviving the dignity of work.
As Trump turns 80, the piece examines why more Americans work into their 80s, spotlighting a 95-year-old doctor and a 93-year-old lawyer to show late-life employment across fields. It cites factors like better healthcare, finances, and a sense of purpose, while noting that health and stress remain real considerations. Trump’s doctors say he’s in excellent health, even as critics question cognitive performance in aging leaders. Experts emphasize that with adequate sleep, nutrition, and resources, people can remain capable well into older ages.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal memo that the company’s rapid AI‑driven workforce overhaul included mistakes, referencing a May restructuring that cut about 10% of staff and moved 7,000 employees to AI initiatives. Meta plans to reassign workers to train AI models, boost team-building activities, and host a July hackathon, while dialing back extensive manager oversight and saying there will be no broad layoffs this year, with 2026 capital spending guided at $125‑$145 billion.
Meta is investing $115 million to launch America’s Workforce Academy, a free five-week program that trains participants in electrical, mechanical, and plumbing trades with paid apprenticeships and a guaranteed job, launching in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas with no prior experience required. It complements a prior Level-Up fiber-technician program that drew 35,000 applications, underscoring a shift toward hiring skilled trades to build and operate AI data-center infrastructure amid strong demand, even as data-center construction dynamics can reduce on-site staff after completion and as Meta has shifted some jobs internally.
Meta is funding a $115 million, no-cost training program called America’s Workforce Academy to prepare data-center technicians with guaranteed job offers upon graduation, tied to Meta's data-center buildout and broader AI infrastructure push—part of a projected $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs investment, though details on participant numbers and whether roles will be unionized were not disclosed.
Axios reports a large literacy gap in the U.S. workforce: roughly 130 million adults read below sixth grade and 43 million struggle with basic math, yet AI tools help workers complete tasks—potentially masking gaps and encouraging cognitive surrender, which may boost apparent productivity while slowing real understanding and decision-making.
Russia is weighing a sweeping change to its labor laws to combat a wartime worker shortage, proposing a lower effective working age of 12 and revival of Soviet-style labor camps, according to children’s rights commissioner Olga Yaroslavskaya. She argues teens aged 12 and over want summer jobs and that federal labor legislation should be updated; currently, work is allowed from age 14 with parental consent and contracts from 15. Economists warn the shortage could weigh on the economy for years.
AI breakthroughs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are rapidly transforming software engineering by letting AI write large swaths of code, forcing engineers to shift from manual coding to supervising AI agents and defining what to build. The shift boosts productivity and gives rise to new roles like product engineering, but it also sparks layoff concerns and questions about which skills remain uniquely human—judgment, creativity, and client collaboration. BI’s The Great Coding Reset series examines how these changes are reshaping the industry and what comes next.
A Lancet report presented at ASCO warns that by 2050 the world may face a 100-million shortage of cancer care workers as annual cancer diagnoses rise to about 35 million, risking longer delays in diagnosis and treatment. To avert a crisis, it calls national workforce planning, smarter task-shifting, investment in technology and education, stronger financing, and international partnerships, noting that proactive action could prevent 170 million deaths (2030–2050) and yield substantial economic benefits.