Breaking Job News: Hundreds Laid Off at Musk's xAI, Mass Healthcare Exodus, & Unemployment Worsens

Elon Musk’s xAI just cut 500 data annotators, the backbone of Grok’s AI training. At the same time, healthcare workers are preparing a mass walkout that could leave hospitals dangerously understaffed.

Meanwhile, the labor market is flashing red: long-term unemployment has climbed to a post-pandemic high, and workers with decades of loyalty are discovering that their tenure is now a disadvantage in today’s hiring market.

These aren’t isolated stories; they’re pieces of a bigger picture: a workforce under pressure, an economy losing balance, and employers rewriting the rules of work.

In this video, we dive into:
1. The risks of a healthcare worker exodus for patients and hospitals.
2. The fallout from Musk’s xAI layoffs and what it means for Grok.
3. The rise of long-term unemployment and its economic impact.
4. Why long-tenured employees face new struggles in the job hunt.

News Articles:
1. Healthcare workers switching jobs: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/over-half-us-healthcare-workers-plan-switch-jobs-by-next-year-survey-finds-2025-09-15/
2. XAI layoff: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-xai-layoffs-data-annotators-2025-9
3. Long-term unemployment: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/15/long-term-unemployment-workers-jobs/
4. Job market is tougher if you've been in the same job for decades: https://www.businessinsider.com/looking-for-work-harder-havent-changed-jobs-in-years-2025-9

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Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:03):
Today's headlines include job cuts and new hires
at XAI and American workersstruggling with long-term
unemployment.
But first, reuters reports thatover half of US health care
workers plan to switch jobs bynext year.
This is according to a newHarris poll of 1,500 frontline
health care workers and 300employers.
A staggering 55% plan to switchjobs by 2026.

(00:25):
In addition to feeling burnedout, 84% say they feel
underappreciated by theiremployer.
Think about that.
That is almost everyone whotook this survey saying their
employer doesn't appreciate them.
It's just really bad to see.
And only 20% believe theiremployer supports long-term
career growth.
Very pessimistic views ofcurrent employers by healthcare

(00:47):
workers right now, and this ispart of a growing problem in the
healthcare space, where there'sa projected shortage of roughly
700,000 physicians and nursesby 2037.
And that seems like a long timeaway, but we're going to start
feeling that much sooner.
A long time away, but we'regoing to start feeling that much
sooner.
So, employers, this should be awake-up call if you see this

(01:09):
survey, because the ball is inyour court.
You need to improve this Now.
60% of workers who took thesurvey say they'd stay if they
were provided tuition,assistance or educational
advancement, and this isespecially true for young
workers like millennials and GenZ, who may be more apt to move,
but they're also more likely torespond if their employer is
looking out for their long-terminterests.

(01:31):
So, again, if you're anemployer, it's on you to make
your team happy and prevent themfrom leaving, because they're
not going to be easy to replace,that's for sure.
Moving on, business Insiderreports, xai has laid off
hundreds of workers involved intraining Grok.
At least 500 generalist dataannotators were cut.
These are the workers whotrained Grok by tagging and

(01:51):
prepping raw data, and the cutscame suddenly.
System access was shut offright away, and the harsh way
these things go down always seemto make a bad situation worse,
and especially in this jobmarket.
At least the impacted workerswill still be paid through
November 30th, so that's betterthan nothing.
In an internal email, xai wroteafter a thorough review of our

(02:12):
human data efforts, we'vedecided to accelerate the
expansion and prioritization ofour specialist AI tutors, while
scaling back our focus ongeneral AI tutor roles.
Before the layoffs took place,the generalist employees were
given a skills test to see ifthey could slot into any of the
specialized roles that includeSTEM, medicine, finance and
safety, and they seemed veryintent to grow that team.

(02:35):
There was a tweet that theysent last week that says we will
immediately surge ourspecialist AI tutor team by 10x.
So I guess that's good news.
A big cut, but lots of hiringon the other side of it.
But for workers, the message ispretty clear If you don't have
a niche, you're expendable.
And while this is about Xspecifically, I expect these

(02:56):
type of cuts to become morecommonplace.
My advice to everyone currentlyin or soon to enter the
workforce is to go deep anddevelop true expertise in
whatever area you pursue.
Make yourself valuable in themarket and difficult to replace.
So good luck to everyone who'sjust affected over at XAI.
In other news, the WashingtonPost reports long-term

(03:17):
unemployment has reachedpost-pandemic highs, which is
putting a massive strain on thelabor market and the economy as
a whole.
As of last month, nearly 2million Americans have been
unemployed at least six months.
That is more than double thenumber from early 2023.
Long-term unemployment nowaccounts for 25% of the overall
number, and that is usually onlyseen during very serious

(03:38):
economic downturns.
Laura Ulrich, who's thedirector of economic research at
Indeed, says the probability ofbecoming unemployed has not
gone up that much, but if youbecome unemployed, it's much
harder to find a job.
I think everyone involved inthe job market sees that and
feels that right now and would100% agree.
So what we're seeing is olderworkers are having a tough time

(04:00):
due to ageism and young peoplein recent grads are struggling
with a lack of entry-level jobs.
So unless you're in that primespot in the middle, you're
having a difficult time rightnow, and I think we're at an
inflection point where, in timeslike this, employers need to
acknowledge that beingunemployed for a long amount of
time is not a negative.

(04:21):
Keeping with that theme,business Insider published an
article titled the Job Market isTough.
It's even tougher if you'vebeen at the same job for decades
.
The article profiles twoprofessionals who are having a
difficult time after many yearswith a single employer.
Historically, longevity is apositive thing and in many cases
it still is.
But some employers are hesitantto hire people who haven't

(04:41):
gained experience in differentenvironments, and I've witnessed
this firsthand.
Having worked with hundreds ofhiring managers over the years,
I've been told well, they jobhop too much.
I've been told they haven't hadenough experience at different
places.
They only know how to do it oneway at one place, and you are
damned if you do, damned if youdon't.
As a job seeker, I mean, we allkind of know that at this point

(05:03):
, but it gets ridiculous attimes when you see companies
holding something againstemployees that were beyond their
control.
So employers need to bepragmatic and look at every
situation individually and lookat the person individually.
So when someone findsthemselves on the job market
through no fault of their own,especially after they've been in

(05:24):
one place for a long time,there's a good chance they're
starting from scratch with theresume, with LinkedIn, knowing
which job boards to use.
So if you are an older workerand you find yourself suddenly
in that position, here's acouple of things I would
recommend.
First, take the time tomodernize your resume and avoid
dating yourself unnecessarily.

(05:45):
Consider including only themost recent 10 to 15 years of
experience.
You don't need to show whatyou've done through your whole
career, and there's an advantagehere for you where you can use
your most relevant experience,your best accomplishments.
Highlight those things anddon't feel like you have to
include everything that you'vedone.
Also, put your education at thebottom of your resume and don't

(06:09):
include graduation dates.
In fact, don't include anydates that may indicate your age
, as crazy as it is andunfortunate as it is, that will
be held against you.
And then leverage LinkedIn.
You may need to get going onLinkedIn.
It's a necessary evil in manyrespects.
Many aren't a fan of thatwebsite.

(06:30):
If you've been employed at thesame place a long time, you
probably haven't paid a lot ofattention to it, but hopefully
you'll be surprised by how broadyour network is, and take full
advantage of that.
Tell everyone you know thatyou're looking, cast a really
wide net and don't be hesitantto ask for help.
And then the final tip I'llgive is connect with recruiters

(06:51):
in your industry and geography.
You can find the best firms atclearlyratedcom and on the
american staffing association'swebsite.
Connect with those recruiters.
They'll act as an agent on yourbehalf and they will certainly
be a big aid in your job search.
So good luck to everyone who'sin that situation right now.
And then, before we go, today,your fun fact is this the

(07:15):
average office worker spendsnearly an hour a day looking for
lost files or other items.
That sounds like a lot of time,but as I start to think about
it, as I look for emails, as Ilook for files and I try to be
really organized about having agood system for filing.
Yeah, maybe I do spend an hour,gosh, we have to see.

(07:35):
I'll time it going forward andsee if I really do spend that
amount of time, but hopefullyyou are under that average,
because that is a veryunproductive thing to spend your
day doing so.
Thank you for listening.
Please like, share, subscribeand give me your feedback.
If you have any thoughts orcomments, I'd love to hear that
too.
Talk to you tomorrow.