employment

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller stated at a press conference that the unemployment rate in the United States is lower than a year ago, the number of jobs has grown significantly faster than last year, and the four-week moving average of unemployment claims remains at its lowest level in decades. He believes that the current situation is quite good regarding the employment goal of the Federal Reserve's dual mandate.

The Federal Reserve FOMC statement pointed out that the unemployment rate has not changed much.

The Federal Reserve FOMC statement pointed out that employment growth is in sync with labor force growth.

The weekly change in ADP employment in the United States for the week ending October 10 was an increase of 16,750, compared to the previous value of 18,500.

According to PR Newswire, City University of Hong Kong announced a survey on the social impact of artificial intelligence. The willingness of Hong Kong citizens to use AI increased from 67.4% in early 2025 to 77.5% in mid-2026, a cumulative increase of 10.1 percentage points; 53.7% of respondents are still quite concerned about their jobs being replaced by AI, a figure that remains roughly the same as the previous year.The survey was led by Professor Huang Yihui from the Department of Media and Communication at City University, conducting three rounds of longitudinal online surveys from February to April 2025, December 2025 to February 2026, and May to July 2026. The latest round surveyed 1,362 Hong Kong citizens aged 20 and above and analyzed a longitudinal sample of 398 participants who took part in all three rounds.The results show that among respondents aged 20 to 34, 61.3% are worried about job security, 60.6% of bachelor's degree holders are concerned about being replaced by AI, and 56.6% of middle-income citizens earning between 30,000 to 60,000 Hong Kong dollars expressed similar concerns. In terms of healthcare, most citizens accept AI assistance in personal health management, but clinical diagnostic decisions still tend to be led by doctors.

Phoenix Technology cites a report from Business Insider, stating that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates mentioned in the latest episode of the "Decoder" podcast that artificial intelligence will create "true abundance," but the next 20 years will be as turbulent as any period in human history, with unprecedented job losses and chaos, resulting in winners and losers.Gates indicated that jobs such as telemarketing, customer service, and accounting will disappear, as AI can perform these tasks more cheaply, quickly, and even more accurately; blue-collar jobs will be taken over by humanoid robots. If not significantly slowed down or stopped, robots capable of building houses, growing food, and performing surgeries will emerge, making human labor unnecessary for most goods and services. He believes that work provides a sense of purpose, income, a reason to attend, relationships with colleagues, and pathways for creativity and problem-solving, while activities such as art, sports, cooking, and parenting can be left to humans in the future.The report also mentions that Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon have proposed shortening the workweek; Elon Musk has predicted that the transition will be "bumpy" and advocates for the government to issue checks to everyone; Dalio Amodi stated that AI is expected to improve quality of life, but the scale of short-term impacts will be unprecedented; Sam Altman mentioned in May of this year that the number of white-collar jobs eliminated by AI is not as high as he expected. Despite concerns that AI will replace jobs and high-profile layoffs at companies like Amazon and Meta, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has not significantly risen during the AI boom.

On October 23, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Adapting to the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technology to Support the Construction of Employment-Friendly Development Models" (Guo Ban Fa [2026] No. 29). The document proposes to adapt to the development of artificial intelligence technology, enhance the positive effects of job creation, empower traditional positions, and mitigate the impact of job replacement.The opinions point out that the role of artificial intelligence should be leveraged to improve the employment environment, enhance occupational safety levels, and improve work quality and efficiency, with priority given to promoting applications in positions with labor shortages and high-risk environments; it is essential to cautiously manage the scope, intensity, and pace of artificial intelligence applications in labor-intensive industries to minimize the impact on workers. The document also encourages enterprises to explore the establishment of an unemployment buffer period system, to inform affected workers in advance during the large-scale promotion of artificial intelligence applications, and to provide support for job transition and transformation.The opinions also outline deployments in areas such as strengthening job creation effects, constructing employment-friendly upgrade paths, enhancing workers' digital literacy and employment capabilities, promoting artificial intelligence-enabled employment policy services, improving workers' rights protection and social security, and perfecting employment monitoring, early warning, and risk response mechanisms. The document is dated October 16, 2026, and is marked for public release.

In a report released in September, Anthropic stated that artificial intelligence could push the unemployment rate in the United States close to 12%. The company's prospectus indicated that the funds raised could take away jobs and even threaten lives.Anthropic's target valuation is as high as $2 trillion, which, if achieved, would place it among the top 10 most valuable companies in the world.

For the week ending October 10, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits in the United States was 1.728 million, higher than the expected 1.72 million, and the previous value was 1.71 million.

The weekly change in ADP employment in the United States for the week ending October 3 was an increase of 18,500 people, compared to the previous value of 24,750 people.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book indicates that most regions report little change in overall employment levels.

For the week ending September 26, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits in the United States was 1.716 million, higher than the expected 1.708 million, and the previous value was revised from 1.701 million to 1.699 million.

The weekly change in ADP employment in the United States for the week ending September 19 was an increase of 23,750 people, compared to the previous value of 20,000 people.

On October 2, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the establishment of the Prime Minister's National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council in Ottawa, which will provide independent and pragmatic advice on Canada's artificial intelligence transformation. The council will bring together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to provide input on the evolution of the AI for All national strategy, covering areas such as accelerating adoption, nurturing national leading enterprises, building sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure, enhancing AI safety, protecting democracy, and ensuring that all Canadians benefit.Council members include Ajay Agrawal, Yoshua Bengio, Sanja Fidler, John Graham, Gillian Hadfield, Jordan Jacobs, Eric Lamarre, Valérie Pisano, Senator Thomas Pitfield, Jody Thomas, Louis Vachon, Michelle Zatlyn, and of course, Patrick Pichette as a member. The council is supported by a small team from the Privy Council Office, while policy decisions and implementation remain the responsibility of the relevant ministers and departments.Carney stated that the prosperity and sovereignty of the artificial intelligence era belong to countries that can build, adopt, and govern artificial intelligence according to their own conditions, and the council will provide recommendations on how to manage risks, seize opportunities, and improve the lives of all Canadians.

U.S. stock index futures surged after the employment data was released in September.

In September, the seasonally adjusted non-farm payroll employment in the United States increased by 29,000, with an expectation of 90,000, and the previous value was revised from 162,000 to 133,000.

The employment participation rate in the United States for September was 61.8%, higher than the expected 61.6%, and the previous value was 61.6%.

The unemployment rate in the United States for September was 4.2%, higher than the expected 4.1%, and the previous value was 4.1.

The U6 unemployment rate in the United States for September is 7.6%, lower than the expected 7.7%, and the previous value was 7.7.