Senate bill would require companies to report AI layoffs as job cuts reach 20-year high in October
- Reference: 1762453389
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/06/ai_job_cuts_senate_bill/
- Source link:
Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mark Warner (D-VA) on Wednesday [1]announced plans to introduce the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act. If passed, the law requires public companies and pretty much every single federal government agency to hand quarterly layoff data over to the Department of Labor, indicating how many jobs they cut due to automation.
The act would also require employers to report on a quarterly basis how many people they hired related to AI and automation, how many jobs they decided not to fill thanks to AI, and numbers on retraining due to artificial intelligence. The end goal, said Warner, is to help Congress understand how the labor market is changing and how to prepare for the future.
[2]
"This bipartisan legislation will finally give us a clear picture of AI's impact on the workforce – what jobs are being eliminated, which workers are being retrained, and where new opportunities are emerging," Warner said. "Armed with this information, we can make sure AI drives opportunity instead of leaving workers behind."
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The bill, [5]introduced yesterday and handed to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, only requires publicly-traded companies to report that data to the Labor Department, but includes a provision that would require officials to determine how privately-held companies should be included in the reporting requirements, meaning that they're unlikely to skate around the rule forever.
"Artificial intelligence is already replacing American workers, and experts project AI could drive unemployment up to 10-20% in the next five years," Hawley said in a canned statement. "The American people need to have an accurate understanding of how AI is affecting our workforce, so we can ensure that AI works for the people, not the other way around."
[6]
His concerns are palpable as layoff rhetoric has accelerated in 2025 - especially the latter part of the year. Whereas prior years were rife with experts [7]claiming AI wouldn't cause job losses, companies are now admitting that their workforces are rapidly [8]shrinking [9]thanks to the [10]payroll expense-reducing miracle of AI.
As a case in point, job cut [11]numbers published by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Thursday showed that October layoffs have been the worst in more than 20 years.
According to the firm, 153,074 jobs were cut by US-based employers last month, a year-over-year increase of 175 percent, and month-on-month increase of 183 percent. Year-to-date numbers don't bode well either, as Challenger reported a 65 percent year-to-date increase in job cuts compared to 2024, making the first 10 months of 2025 the worst since 2020, which was marked by the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
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Warehousing and technology have been the hardest hit sectors, Challenger said, thanks in large part to AI and automation technology being introduced in those areas.
"This is the highest total for October in over 20 years, and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008," the firm said. "Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape."
In 2003 it was wide adoption of cellular technology, says Challenger; this time around it's AI.
[13]Paradox: Agentic AI dev roles are less in demand as agents take over
[14]Workday erases 8.5% of workforce because of ... AI
[15]Duolingo jumps aboard the 'AI-first' train, will phase out contractors
[16]AI layoffs to backfire: Half quietly rehired at lower pay
Revealera hiring trends researcher Henley Wing Chiu also [17]reported some disheartening jobs data on Thursday. His analysis of 180 million global job postings over the last few years shows an eight percent decline in overall jobs postings in 2025 compared to the year prior. Most of the lost postings were in the creative space, with [18]computer graphics artists the hardest hit, though photography and [19]writing jobs have declined considerably as well, with each career field notching at least 28 percent fewer postings this year.
What job is growing the fastest? Machine learning engineers, and it's [20]not even a contest . That said, Chiu isn't ready to place all the blame on declining jobs on AI, as he noted the tech's influence on jobs is "nearly impossible to separate from macro factors."
The influence of macroeconomic factors was cited by Challenger too - cost-cutting was actually the most-cited reason for sending employees packing. "Softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes," Challenger said.
With the difficulty of separating one layoff cause from the other, Hawley and Warner's bill may become essential. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-warner-to-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-revealing-number-of-jobs-lost-to-ai/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQ0oeVMPZ8BoBRDdM-sUJQAAARQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQ0oeVMPZ8BoBRDdM-sUJQAAARQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQ0oeVMPZ8BoBRDdM-sUJQAAARQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3108/text
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQ0oeVMPZ8BoBRDdM-sUJQAAARQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/29/ai_ecb_jobs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/28/amazon_14000_jobs_cut/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/04/ibm_cutting_several_thousand_jobs/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/ai_job_losses_us_senate_report/
[11] https://www.challengergray.com/blog/october-challenger-report-153074-job-cuts-on-cost-cutting-ai/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aQ0oeVMPZ8BoBRDdM-sUJQAAARQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/03/demand_for_software_skills_ai_jobs/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/workday_restructure_job_cuts/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/duolingo_ceo_ai_first_shift/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/forrester_ai_rehiring/
[17] https://bloomberry.com/blog/i-analyzed-180m-jobs-to-see-what-jobs-ai-is-actually-replacing-today/#bullet4
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/openai_makes_empty_promises_to/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/03/ai_scientific_articles/
[20] https://bloomberry.com/blog/i-analyzed-180m-jobs-to-see-what-jobs-ai-is-actually-replacing-today/#bullet4:~:text=5.%20Machine%20Learning%20Engineers%20were%20the%20%231%20growing%20job
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Good
Sure. But is anyone even talking about a potential second step?
Absent that, and considering at least one of the senators involved, this seems like a "oh look, we're doing something" flag wave, rather than a concrete attempt to actually fix anything.
I also can't help cynically thinking any numbers resulting from this proposed bill, accurate or otherwise, will somehow be exploited by the very AI broligarchy executives causing the problems. I don't know how they'll do it, but they've shown to be pretty adept at taking advantage of people, ruthlessly squeezing costs and cutting jobs, with little or no regard for anything but the proverbial bottom line and their own pockets lining.
But.... The Dear Leader has said....
That the US Economy is the Hottest on Earth (economic heat not deg F)
and that he has eliminated inflation, Gas is $1.98 a gal and he has 17trillion on the shelf.
Someone is lying bigly.
Guess Who?
Re: But.... The Dear Leader has said....
"Gas is $1.98 a gal and he has 17trillion on the shelf"
His gas, his 17T, his shelf.
Trump's easily disproven claims
Make you wonder. Does he really believe he can lie to people about the price of gas which they can see every time they fill up, or the price of groceries, which they can see every time they buy food, and his supporters will believe him? Or is he being lied to by those around him who are terrified of giving him bad news, so if he asks "how is inflation doing" they tell him it is gone and prices are "way down" and if he asks how his poll numbers are they say "at a record high for any president" and he's so mentally incompetent at this point he can't fact from fiction any longer.
I keep seeing his own supporters saying stuff on Facebook or Reddit like "stop lying about prices being way down, that isn't true for me or for anyone I know". It is easy to lie about stuff like the price of houses, since most people aren't looking at houses right now. Or cars, since most people aren't looking at cars right now. But stuff people experience constantly in their daily lives like the price of gas, price of food, price of electricity, you just can't lie about that no matter how much your supporters worship you. This might be the biggest reason why his approval numbers (the real ones) are down in the 30s now. It is only the true blue MAGA people who are still happy with him, but how much longer before they keep feeling the pain of higher prices and get tired of listening to him lie about how prices are way down?
Good
Perhaps the politicians are beginning to realize that AI is destroying what's left of the American tax base and it's time to make a token effort to show they care.
Re: Good
"a token effort to show they care"
... without actually doing so.
Re: Good
"time to make a token effort to show they care."
I am thinking the same thing. What will they do with this data once they have it and who will pay for it on both ends? Beyond being interesting to know, what will knowing it do to political discussions about running the country? The government is not likely to stop funding these job erasers. It would be bad for campaign contributions.
miracle? Hah
"prior years were rife with experts claiming AI wouldn't cause job losses"
Apparently these experts were corporate-paid shills, or were simply wrong. I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, but anyone who believes today's corporations wouldn't seize on any excuse to cut payroll if they can get away with it, simply hasn't been paying attention.
"companies are now admitting that their workforces are rapidly shrinking thanks to the payroll expense-reducing miracle of AI."
More like "payroll expense-reducing excuse", not "miracle". It's not as if AI is actually making things better most of the time, usually whatever they're actually doing is merely something the executive branch can point at to say "we have AI!", followed by using it as leverage to cut more jobs, juice the stock price, pump their quarterly bonus, and so on.
Re: miracle? Hah
Its an excuse, but the economy is not doing well now. The stock market is doing great, and people who own a decent chunk of stock (even if it is just in their 401K and they won't be touching it for years) "feel" wealthy. Once the stock market starts falling, those people will start feeling poorer and they'll be like the entire rest of the non-stock owning population at that point.
Companies are always early to layoff when the economy takes a turn for the worst, and late to hire when it picks up. AI provides cover for those layoffs, so they don't have to answer uncomfortable questions about whether they see the economy as bad or think their business will be down in the next year. They can mumble about "efficiencies" and people who want to read that as "AI" will do so, and people who want to read that as "cost cutting" will do so, so it serves two groups of analysts (AI bulls, and economy bears) at the same time.
Re: miracle? Hah
"The stock market is doing great, and people who own a decent chunk of stock (even if it is just in their 401K and they won't be touching it for years) "feel" wealthy."
The stock market and the real world of money are two separate entities. If you own a load of shares in companies that have a market cap well over their earnings, while you may feel wealthy, you are in a mountain valley just as spring starts melting the snow cover on the mountain. If the spring arrives fast and hot, not good for you and no time to get to higher ground. What do you really own and how is its value derived?
Good
First step in accountability is transparency and data.