Finding jobs in the US is becoming more difficult. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US companies added just 22,000 jobs between July and August, and a massive revision of federal employment data shows that the pace of employment was significantly lower in the summer of 2025.
“The era of hiring 200,000 people a month is over,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at consulting firm Ey-Parthenon. “We could be in an environment where employment growth is basically about zero.”
Experts said slowing recruitment is the most powerful thing for younger workers. The cohort has entered the job market when companies experiment with artificial intelligence. This technological convergence and the rapidly evolving policy environment in Washington limit the options for many people early in their careers.
“When you consider how AI models are trained, you just need to learn from textbook knowledge and well-written information. Those are the things that entry-level workers are good at,” said Luyu Chen, a researcher at Stanford.
A Stanford University study on the employment effectiveness of artificial intelligence shows that the role of software developers in their 20s has declined sharply since 2022. Young marketing and sales managers are also struggling to get hired. That said, the latest BLS Employment Report shows that young workers are finding jobs in healthcare and retail at a relatively fast pace.
“However, over the next six months, there is growing evidence that there may be even more weaknesses among these two sectors,” Daco said.
Experts said businesses are cautious about employment to evolve federal government policies on taxes, tariffs and immigration.
“They are willing to deal with uncertainty, but they need to respond to it, so some of them are very wise about the people they employ,” Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf said on September 10th in “Scokebox.”
The Federal Reserve reduced its federal funds interest rate target by 25 basis points at its September meeting. The central bank warned of potential downside risks to US jobs over the summer as federal data revealed a sharp slowdown in recruitment.
Lower interest rates can motivate businesses to hire more workers. With interest rate cuts in September, the Federal Reserve is moving towards a more neutral monetary policy stance, which could help the labour market slightly. At the same time, the Fed was reduced during personal consumption expenditure (PCE), with inflation remaining at 2.59%, surpassing the Fed’s target rate of 2%.
“We must also see this in the context of a more supply shock-driven economy,” says Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “And if there is a more supply shock-driven environment, the Federal Reserve or central banks are simply less capable of fighting inflation and supporting the labour market.”
Watch the video above to learn why work is disappearing in the US.
