Cornering The Job Market: Job Growth Below Expectations & Amazon's Employee Culture Crisis

The signals from the job market are getting harder to ignore. August’s ADP report delivered just 54,000 new private sector jobs, well below expectations and a sharp slowdown from July’s stronger showing. Economists are calling it another red flag for growth and more fuel for the Fed to consider cutting rates. 

But while headlines focus on weak hiring, a groundbreaking study quietly shattered one of the biggest workplace myths: that young people can’t stay put. It turns out Gen Z and millennials are sticking with jobs just as long as Baby Boomers did at the same age, proving that economic conditions, not attitude, drive turnover.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s dramatic culture shift under CEO Andy Jassy is rewriting the rules inside one of the world’s biggest companies. Mandatory five-day office weeks, strict expense policies, and tighter oversight are leaving employees frustrated even as profits per worker surge and shareholders cheer. 

We’ll also break down surprising new tax deductions for tipped workers, yes, even podcasters made the list, and end with the incredible story of Katherine Johnson’s 30-second interview that helped put Apollo 11 on the moon.

News Articles: 
1. APD employment report: https://adpemploymentreport.com/
2. Debunking job hopping: https://www.nirsonline.org/reports/debunkingjobhopping/
3. Life at Amazon: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-amazons-hardcore-culture-reset-day-1-roots-2025-9?
4. No tax on tip list: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Tipped-Occupations-Detailed-8-27-2025.pdf

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Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:00):
Today's big headline is the ADP National
Employment Report that wasreleased this morning.
Private employment grew by only54,000 jobs in August versus an
estimated 68,000, so anothermiss with the numbers.
The silver lining is that we'reup from where we were in June,
where we lost 33,000 jobs, butit's a big step backwards from

(00:21):
July, where 104,000 jobs wereadded.
The biggest gains came fromleisure and hospitality,
construction and professionalservices, with the largest
losses showing up in trade,transportation and utilities,
and education and healthservices.
With these numbers, followingyesterday's disappointing job
openings and labor turnoversummary, it's more fuel on the

(00:42):
fire for the Trumpadministration as they lean on
the Fed to cut rates.
Expect that to come very soon.
In other news, the NationalInstitute on Retirement Security
released a study titled AData-Driven Look at Tenure and
Turnover Among Younger Workers.
It shows Gen Z and millennialsdon't switch jobs more than
other generations.
It completely debunks thelongstandingstanding job-hopping

(01:05):
myth associated with youngerworkers.
Here are the facts In 2024,both Gen Z and millennials ages
25 to 34, had a median jobtenure of 2.7 years, which is
virtually identical to themedian job tenure baby boomers
had at the same career stageback in 1983.
It turns out that it's economicconditions, rather than

(01:26):
generational attitudes thatdrive worker turnover.
Quit rates rise during strongeconomies and fall during
recessions, like we saw duringthe 2008 Great Recession and the
2020 pandemic.
The exception is public sectorjobs, since their benefits
really promote retention.
State and local governmentemployees have significantly
lower quit rates due to morewidespread access to pensions

(01:49):
and health care benefits.
So there you go, zoomers andMillennials.
You're now armed with the datato push back on any criticism
you get from Boomers.
Now, as a Generation X-er, I'mcontent to let the rest of you
fight it out, since everyonepretty much agrees that it's us
that's the best generationMoving on.
Business Insider published anarticle titled Amazon's Hardcore

(02:11):
Culture Reset.
It says CEO Andy Jassy isdialing Amazon back to day one
and it's getting ruthless.
Sounds like micromanagement isin full effect right now.
Employees are having to recordthe work-related share of their
company phone use andreimbursement costs will of
their company phone use, andreimbursement costs will scale

(02:31):
down with personal use, whichsounds awful for everyone
involved.
I wouldn't want to be on eitherside of that equation.
No fun at all.
He's also made corporate staffreturn to the office five days a
week no flexibility whatsoever.
He really wants in-personcollaboration to be the standard
and isn't considering otheroptions.
So how is that working is aquestion.
Well, believe it or not, thisreset appears to be bullish.

(02:53):
Amazon stock is up 30% over thepast year and profit per
employee has climbed to $44,100,which is more than 5x what it
was in 2022.
So you have unhappy employees,happy shareholders.
Can you sustain both over time?
Well, I guess we'll find out.
Time will tell.

(03:14):
And the final headline for todaythe Treasury Department
recently released their list ofoccupations that are eligible
for the new no tax on tipdeduction.
Now, this came about throughthe big beautiful bill, or the
new tax on tip deduction.
Now, this came about throughthe big beautiful bill,
depending on your perspective,but it's now in effect, and

(03:35):
they've published a preliminarylist of 68 tipped occupations
that are eligible for a federalincome tax deduction that's up
to $25,000.
Now, this is going to be validfrom 2025 through 2028.
They've broken the occupationsdown into eight categories
beverage and food service,hospitality and guest services,

(03:55):
home services, personal services, personal appearance and
wellness, recreation andinstruction, and transportation
and delivery, and thenentertainment events, which I
find somewhat amusing because itincludes dancers.
The definition of a dancer isjust someone who performs dances
.
Now, I'm not sure they'vehistorically been diligent about

(04:18):
paying tips anyway, but maybeI'm wrong.
Also as part of that group DJs,performers, musicians but maybe
I'm wrong Also as part of thatgroup DJs, performers, musicians
, podcasters and digitalcreators.
So if you're a digital creator,you're now eligible to deduct
tips.
I didn't know you were gettingtips, but hey, good for you.
Take advantage of it.
Now this deduction kicks in forindividuals who are earning
less than 150K a year, but inreality, more than one third of

(04:42):
tipped workers those that are onthe list already earn so little
that they don't actually owefederal income tax, which
clearly minimizes this law'sbenefit.
For a full list, if you want tosee it it defines all the
occupations go to treasurygov.
So those are your headlines fortoday, but before we leave,
here's your fun fact.
In 1965, nasa hiredmathematician Katherine Johnson

(05:05):
after a 30-second interview.
Many claim that it's theshortest interview on record.
I don't know how we could provethat.
Johnson's stellar reputation asa human computer at NACA, which
was NASA's predecessor, spokefor itself.
She had a razor-sharp mind andcould do calculations that no
one else could perform.
Razor sharp mind and could docalculations that no one else

(05:27):
could perform, and they werealready deemed mission critical.
So the interviewer didn't needlong to green light her for the
Apollo trajectory work.
Johnson's math ultimatelyhelped Apollo 11 land on the
moon and that proved that thatbrief chat was a stellar call by
the interviewer.
So, as a message to anyone whointerviews hiring managers hr,
if nasa can do it quickly, youcan too.

(05:48):
So that's it for today.
Thanks for listening.
Please like, subscribe, shareany feedback you have and I look
forward to talking to you soon.