Overview
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported more than 153,000 U.S. mass layoffs announced in October, the biggest October jump since 2003, including 31,039 attributed to AI and 48,414 AI-linked cuts year to date.
- Major employers tied reductions to automation, with Amazon planning about 30,000 cuts, Intel roughly 25,000, and Meta about 600 as firms streamline tasks and integrate AI into operations.
- Tech giants have issued over USD 200 billion in bonds this year to fund AI data centers and capacity, including roughly USD 30 billion from Meta and USD 18 billion from Oracle, drawing heavy investor demand.
- Market voices split on risk, with some calling a 10–15% pullback healthy and others citing strong fundamentals at key firms, even as concerns rise about concentrated debt in fast-depreciating AI assets and a 4.81% average U.S. corporate borrowing cost.
- Experts highlight rapid individual productivity gains but say firm-level payoffs require process redesign, better data integration and skills, as ILO/NASK estimate one in four jobs faces transformation and LinkedIn reports 75% of Latin American companies now use AI in hiring.