Breaking Job News: Amazon’s Automation Plan Could Wipe Out 600k Jobs & The Great Freeze Hits Hiring

The job market looks frozen, but there’s movement beneath the ice.

New data from ZipRecruiter calls this era The Great Freeze, with turnover plunging and employers choosing retention over risk. Yet cracks are forming: a potential hiring thaw could arrive by 2026, especially for entry-level talent as companies drop degree requirements and focus on skill-based hiring.

Host Pete Newsome unpacks why collaboration, communication, and customer service top the 2025 must-have skills list, and why time management, attention to detail, and critical thinking are harder to find than ever.

Then the story heats up: Amazon’s automation plan could transform work itself, with up to 75% of operations going robotic. He breaks down what that means for jobs, wages, and the balance between efficiency and opportunity. While an MIT economist warns Amazon could shift from job creator to job destroyer, Google’s chief economist offers a counterpoint, arguing that AI isn’t replacing jobs, it’s redefining them.

Between these extremes, Pete explores the middle ground: mapping roles to tasks, amplifying human strengths, and building AI fluency that moves with you from tool to tool. 

News Articles:
1. ZipRecruiter Employer Survey: https://www.ziprecruiter-research.org/
2. NY Times on Amazon replacing jobs: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/technology/inside-amazons-plans-to-replace-workers-with-robots.html
3. Washington Post on Reskilling for AI: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/19/jobs-ai-skills-training/

💬 What do you think:  Will skills-based hiring truly open more doors, or shift the gatekeepers? 

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Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:00):
In today's job market headlines, Amazon plans
to automate 75% of itsoperations, and Google's chief
economist shares his thoughtsabout how AI will affect work.
But first, ZipRecruiter justreleased its 2025 annual
employer survey, and they'recalling this moment the Great
Freeze.
Why?

(00:20):
Because turnover has collapsedfrom 177% in 2023 to just 49.5%
in 2025.
That tells us employees andemployers are both staying put,
not really making any movesright now.
Although I will still say 49.5%for turnovers, pretty big
number.
And nearly 76% of the employersin this survey said their top

(00:44):
priority is employee retention,compared to only 15.7% focused
on recruiting new talent.
That is a massive shift fromwhat we saw during the talent
war two years ago.
That time seems like a distantmemory right now, but the survey
indicates that this currentstate that we're in won't last
forever.
ZipRecruiter's data shows 63%of employers plan to ramp up

(01:09):
hiring in 2026 with a big focuson entry-level roles.
Now that is welcome news, tosay the least.
Although surprising andsomewhat hard to believe at this
particular moment, but stillgreat to see.
ZipRecruiter's labor economistcalls it the great thaw.
Okay, we didn't really needanother job market term, but we

(01:29):
have one whether we ask for itor not.
She's quoted as saying, we'reseeing businesses ramp up
entry-level hiring, drop degreerequirements, and incorporate
skills assessments into theirprocess.
The organizations that adapt tonew technologies, prioritize
skills, and invest in theirworkforce will gain a
competitive advantage insecuring top talent as the
market shifts.

(01:50):
Now, speaking of shifts, as AItransforms the workplace, soft
skills, not hard skills, arebecoming the most in demand.
According to ZipRecruiter'splatform, the top three skills
requested in 2025 arecollaboration, customer service,
and communication.
Employers say the hardestskills to find right now include
time management, attention todetail, critical thinking, and

(02:14):
professionalism.
That one surprised me.
Professionalism, really?
Come on, everyone, do better.
The survey also indicated thatmost employers view AI as more
opportunity than threat.
51% say it's creating newroles, but 38% have already used
AI to replace some jobs.
Now, when I see that number, Ithink 38% is significant.

(02:35):
I mean, this is still a massiveuh thing that we should pay
attention to.
As I say all the time, uh whenI'm talking about AI, 38% have
already used AI to replace somejobs.
Let's not just breeze past thatas if it's not a big deal.
It is.
About half in the survey, 52%,expect that AI will replace more

(02:56):
roles in the near future.
But industries like technologyand marketing anticipate job
growth, not decline.
I'm skeptical.
I like to see it, but I amskeptical until proven otherwise
because I see more reports andreal data showing jobs are being
replaced, not just enhanced byAI.
So this is a thorough report.

(03:17):
There's a lot of interestinginsight in it.
I highly recommend reading itif you're interested at
ziprecruiter-research.org.
Now let's talk about a storythat will certainly get a lot of
attention, and this isabsolutely about AI replacing
jobs.
The New York Times uncoveredinternal Amazon documents
showing the company plans toautomate up to 75% of its

(03:40):
operations.
Amazon currently employs about1.2 million people in the US,
but its automation team projectsit can avoid hiring 160,000 new
workers by 2027, which willsave them about 30 cents per
item shipped.
Their executives told Amazon'sboard they expected double sales
by 2033 without having to addany new workers, and that's a

(04:02):
move that could eliminate morethan 600,000 future jobs.
In the company's most advancedfacility, located in Streetport,
Louisiana, they already use athousand robots and operate with
25% fewer workers than theywould otherwise need.
And that's a model being rolledout to 40 more sites by 2027.
Economist Darren Asimoglu fromMIT warned that if Amazon

(04:26):
succeeds, one of the biggestemployers in America will become
a net job destroyer.
How's that for an unambiguousstatement?
I mean, that is just a reallyshocking thing to see, even
though I think about this, talkabout it a lot.
When you see it in black andwhite like this, this is Amazon
actively taking making movesthat will displace jobs.

(04:48):
So my take on this is this isnot a glimpse into the distant
future.
It's happening right now.
Amazon already has a millionrobots working around the world.
It's not eliminators all atonce, it's just making sure that
fewer humans are needed overtime.
And while that may soundefficient for Amazon, it's going

(05:08):
to accelerate the loss ofmiddle-income blue-collar jobs
in communities across thecountry.
And as I repeatedly say whenthis subject comes up, when it
comes to AI impacting the jobmarket, we simply aren't ready
for how quickly things arechanging, and it will happen at
scale much sooner than mostpeople realize.
Now, in a contradictory finalheadline today, the Washington

(05:30):
Post ran a story written byGoogle's chief economist and a
Cambridge public policyprofessor, where they argue that
the real challenge isn't thatAI will eliminate jobs, but that
workers and employers aren'tyet ready to adapt to it.
They point out that technologyhistorically changes tasks, not
entire occupations.
The article references the 1950U.S.

(05:51):
Census, where of the 271 jobslisted, only one, an elevator
operator, has disappearedbecause of automation.
And while the US lost 3.5million jobs to computerization
since 1970, we've gained 19million new ones in other
industries.
Their main message in thearticle is that reskilling is

(06:12):
everything.
Since most of the 2030workforce is already employed
today, retraining them isimperative.
And the authors highlight thesuccess of employer-led programs
and cite Google's own Grow withGoogle Career Certificates as
an example of how private sectorinitiatives can give workers
verifiable, transferableAI-related skills.
How nice of the Google ChiefEconomist to say that Google's

(06:35):
the answer and we really don'thave to worry about AI taking
jobs.
Reading this, I believe they'reunderestimating the degree of
disruption AI will bring.
To me, it's just not as simpleas history repeating itself or
not being afraid because we canlook to history, because we've
never encountered a technologylike this.
And it's not just about what AIhas the potential to do long

(06:59):
term, it's the pace ofdevelopment and the improvement
that is happening and lightningspeed that is unlike anything
we've ever seen before.
So make no mistake, I hopethey're right.
I hope I'm wrong.
And if they are, when 2030comes, I will be happy to say
that I missed the markcompletely and that I was
chicken little for nothing.

(07:20):
So we'll have to wait and see.
And here's your fun fact forthe day the most productive day
of the week for most officeworkers is Tuesday.
So if you're tackling yourtoughest task today, well, this
is a day to do it.
Good luck to you.
It should go well, better thanany other day, at least.
So thank you for listening.
I appreciate it.
Please like and subscribe andshare with anyone you think

(07:43):
might be interested.
And all as always, I welcomeyour feedback.
Talk to you tomorrow.