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Something important is happening with the labor market.
US employers announced over 153,000 job cuts in October, the highest monthly total in more than two decades. Amazon announced about 14,000 corporate job cuts as it pivots towards AI-driven operations. At the same time, research shows that entry-level opportunities are shrinking and new entrants to the job market have it harder than most.
To further make sense of what’s happening, I spoke with Ben Zweig, economist and CEO of Revelio Labs. His team analyzes millions of worker profiles to track hiring and job flows – so he sees data most people don’t.
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A new career playbook
Ben and I cross‑checked Revelio’s data with what I’m hearing on the ground. We don’t normally do career advice – and our audience isn’t entry‑level. But many of you have kids and mentees stepping into this market, and the data is too relevant to skip. If you’re advising a new grad, here’s the concise playbook.
First, understand what’s going on:
Entry-level roles in AI-adjacent fields are contracting.
And managers are risk-averse because they expect workflows to change again next quarter. Firms don’t want to hire someone into a process they know will be redesigned.
How to break into an AI‑shaped job market
Ship end‑to‑end projects: choose or create multi‑step projects with real stakeholders; practice owning the plan and delivering it to a finish line. If AI takes on more of the execution work, the value for humans is increasingly in coordination around those tasks, the orchestration. It’s the ability to decide what needs to be done, in what order and with which tools, and then keep a project moving.
