(Stacker) – Despite a resilient economy, U.S. unemployment claims crept up 9,000 to 221,000 for the week ending March 30, 2024, according to Labor Department data.
This coincides with a 14-month high in U.S. layoffs in March 2024, with tech and government-sector job eliminations accounting for heavy losses.
Cost-cutting and restructuring efforts are behind some of the cutbacks , Andy Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., told Reuters. However, these factors don’t totally account for the ongoing churn, particularly in tech, where more than 57,000 employees have lost their jobs in 2024 so far, according to layoffs.
fyi data , as of April 4. The uptick in tech sector losses comes on the heels of major tech layoffs in 2023, with two behemoths, IBM and British telecommunications firm BT Group , pegging job cuts to AI. When it comes to technology, the only constant is change—and other sectors may be at risk of job losses accelerated by AI.
By 2030, activities that currently account for up to 30% of hours worked across the U.S. economy could be automated, according to a July 2023 McKinsey report on the future of work in America.
This seismic shift means jobs that involve repetitive tasks, data collection, and data processing are likely to experience future losses, given the efficiency of automated systems to handle these duties. Office support, customer service, and food services are predicted to be among the roles most impacted. Whether or no.
