The week from November 3 to November 11, 2025 brought troubling news for workers around the world. Job cuts in October 2025 reached historic levels, with 153,074 American workers losing their jobs. This was a shocking 175% increase compared to October 2024, when only 55,597 people were laid off. The numbers show that companies are cutting jobs much faster than they did before. October had the highest number of layoffs in October since 2003.

Artificial intelligence has become a major reason for job losses. In October alone, AI caused 31,039 job cuts—the second-most common reason companies gave for laying people off. When you add up all of 2025, AI has been blamed for 48,414 job losses. But even these numbers might be too small. Nearly 78,000 jobs have already been eliminated because of AI just in 2025. Scientists at Goldman Sachs predict that AI could affect as many as 300 million jobs worldwide.

Young workers and people starting their careers are being hit the hardest. Research shows that 17% of employers plan to shrink their workforces in the next year, and they say 62% of the jobs they will cut are junior, entry-level, and administrative positions. These are the jobs that young people and early-career professionals usually do. The risk is 25 times higher in large private companies, where one in four employers expect to cut workers because of AI.

Workers are experiencing real fear and uncertainty. An incredibly high number—34.7% of all workers—are very worried that AI will take their job or force them to do completely different work. This means more than one out of every three people in the workforce are anxious about AI. Yet when companies are asked how they will help, the response is disappointing. Only 22.4% of companies say they will focus on teaching workers new skills in the next two years. This means most workers are being left to figure things out by themselves.

The problem will only get worse without action. Scientists at McKinsey say that 14% of the entire global workforce—about 375 million people—may be forced to change their careers by 2030 because of AI. In the United States, 47% of all workers are at risk of losing their jobs to automation and AI in the next ten years. Some experts warn that unemployment could jump to between 10% and 20% in the next five years if AI keeps replacing workers.

The United States government is finally paying attention. This week, two senators—Mark Warner from Virginia and Josh Hawley from Missouri—introduced a new bill called the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act. This bill would force big companies and government agencies to tell the Department of Labor exactly how many workers they have laid off because of AI. Companies would also have to report how many new jobs they created with AI and how many workers they retrained. The goal is to get real, accurate information about what is happening—so Americans and their leaders understand the true impact of AI on jobs.

However, some people think the worry about AI job loss is too extreme. They point out that throughout history, new technology has always created new jobs even when it eliminated old ones. They argue that when productivity goes up, people have more money to spend, which creates new work in other areas like restaurants, fitness, and home renovation. Still, this does not help workers whose jobs exist right now and might disappear tomorrow. The real problem is that workers are losing jobs today while new jobs might not appear for many years. In the meantime, families need income, and workers need hope.