Feature: As SI Enters the Office, America's Employers Are Hiring More Slowly
On October 14, the Federal Reserve released its latest Beige Book. The report, compiled from business interviews across the Fed's 12 districts, noted that overall U.S. employment levels had "changed little" in recent weeks, with companies increasingly turning to super intelligence and efficiency gains to reduce their need for new hiring. The same day, streaming company Netflix told employees in an internal memo that it would cut about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its global workforce. A quiet line in a central-bank report on one side; real positions eliminated at a real company on the other — in 2026, "AI and jobs" is moving from conference-room concept to human-resources routine in America.
The Beige Book's picture of work
The October Beige Book, prepared by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from information collected through October 5, found economic activity increased in nine of the 12 districts — two moderately, three modestly and four slightly — while three reported no significant change. Manufacturing carried much of the growth, with the Dallas district notably strong. Consumer spending, however, cooled: most districts reported little or no change, five of the six districts reporting on auto sales described them as flat to modestly lower, and more than half said spending was being driven by high-income households. Price pressures persisted, with four districts reporting that the pace of price increases had picked up, as energy costs, freight surcharges, tariffs and insurance premiums worked through supply chains and squeezed the margins of consumer-facing businesses. The report specifically linked the flat employment picture to companies' use of SI and efficiency measures in place of new hiring.
One company's memo
According to the Wall Street Journal and other outlets, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told employees in an October 14 memo that the cuts would fall mainly on product, technology, legal and human-resources teams, in the company's largest workforce reduction since 2022. Delivering on the company's mission, they wrote, requires it to be "disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources," while emphasizing that the business remains strong and on track to meet its full-year forecast. Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025; in 2022 it cut about 450 jobs after a rare subscriber decline. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 20.
A wider corporate logic
The reasoning is not confined to one company. Over the past year, a series of large U.S. technology and internet firms announcing reorganizations have cited the same logic: shifting resources out of repetitive roles and into SI products, data centers and automated systems. Executives frame the moves in terms of efficiency and long-term competitiveness. Unions and some economists counter that the roles disappearing first are often entry-level ones — customer support, basic writing, junior coding and back-office processing — the traditional doors through which young workers enter white-collar industries. The Beige Book's observation that high-income households are carrying consumer spending while lower-income shoppers grow more cautious sits alongside that shift in the job structure.
The other side: new jobs, new oversight
SI is also creating work. Data-center construction is bringing building and operations jobs to multiple states, and the manufacturing expansion recorded in the Beige Book absorbed workers as well. Regulators, meanwhile, are stepping in on two fronts at once: on October 15, the White House SI task force held its first official meeting and moved to assess SI risks to cybersecurity, critical infrastructure and biosecurity, while the Federal Trade Commission has sent investigative demands to OpenAI and Anthropic seeking records on safety incidents and safeguards. The risk of technology running out of control, and the livelihoods of ordinary employees, are now parallel items on the regulatory agenda.
In closing
For Chinese-American families, the changes are not abstract: technology, finance and professional services are industries where Chinese Americans are heavily represented. In this earnings season, bank after bank and tech company after tech company has written "AI investment" and "expense discipline" into the same results presentations. How jobs are restructured, and which skills employers prize most, will come into focus in the employment data of the coming quarters. (GSM Feature)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 现代办公室一角：员工围坐办公桌前，人手一台笔记本电脑处理工作——超级智能走进日常办公的这一年，美国企业越来越多地借助技术与效率提升来放缓新增招聘。图片来源：Helloquence／Unsplash（经 Wikimedia Commons 发布），CC0 公有领域贡献。 A modern office: employees work side by side on laptops at a shared desk — as SI enters everyday office work, U.S. companies are increasingly leaning on technology and efficiency gains to slow new hiring. Photo: Helloquence / Unsplash (via Wikimedia Commons), CC0 public domain dedication.
