Cornering The Job Market: Job Openings Are Lower Than Expected & Fentanyl At Work

Is the job market losing its footing? July job openings fell to 7.18 million, which is 200,000 below expectations and part of a troubling pattern of downward revisions. These numbers not only raise doubts about government data but also hint at a cooling economy that could trigger another rate cut.

But that’s not the only red flag. Quest Diagnostics reports over 1% of workers are testing positive for fentanyl, with surprise screenings showing rates seven times higher than pre-employment tests. Employers are scrambling to tighten safety protocols as substance use collides with workplace performance.

Meanwhile, the AI debate is no longer hypothetical. Salesforce has cut 4,000 customer support jobs, replacing them with AI agents, a sobering reminder that automation is already reshaping careers. And federal employees just learned their proposed 1% raise for 2026 won’t even cover inflation, effectively shrinking their paychecks.

In this episode, we’ll explore what these signals mean for the future of work, from hidden risks in the labor market to the immediate impact of AI. Plus, a surprising fact: remote work’s roots actually trace back to the 1970s, not for productivity, but for the environment.

What industries do you think will feel AI’s impact next? Join the conversation and subscribe for more insights into the forces shaping the workplace.

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Episode Transcript

Pete Newsome (00:02):
Today's big job news is a job opening and labor
turnover survey that wasreleased this morning by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics andunfortunately the news isn't
great.
Job openings came in at 7.18million for July versus an
estimated 7.38 million.
So we missed by 200,000 jobsand that's a really big number
to miss by.
We were also down from Junewhere the job openings were 7.4

(00:26):
million.
Although those were reviseddown, they were 80,000 more when
the report originally came outa month ago.
So here we go again with theBLS revising numbers.
Now I don't anticipate thatTrump will necessarily fire
anyone this month because it allbut seals the deal on a rate
decrease, which he's beenpushing really hard for, because

(00:46):
it is a pretty clear indicationbased on this morning's numbers
, that the job market is headedin the wrong direction.
In somewhat better news, hiresand separations were relatively
flat, but separations theyrevised those numbers too from
June and they jacked the numberup by 281,000 over what was
originally reported.
So the BLS just can't get outof its own way lately with the

(01:08):
numbers.
Now, on the other side of thecoin, they did revise up the
number of hires over what wasoriginally reported in June by
63,000.
So we'll take the small winwhere we can get it, but not
good numbers this morning,Unfortunately.
Let's hope we see somethingbetter tomorrow when ADP
releases their nationalemployment report.
I often say that I trust thoseprivate numbers a whole lot more

(01:32):
than I trust what the BLSreports.
I think everyone is comingaround to that same thought
lately, so fingers crossed thatwe get better news tomorrow
morning from ADP.
In other news, the Wall StreetJournal put out an article today
titled More Fentanyl Shows Upin Random Workplace Tests.
I mean, this is a headline thatI did not anticipate seeing,

(01:52):
but apparently a recent analysisof over 8 million drug tests by
Quest Diagnostics shows that1.13% of workers tested positive
for fentanyl in randomworkplace screenings in 2024.
Workers tested positive forfentanyl in random workplace
screenings in 2024.
So more than one out of 100workers are testing positive for
fentanyl.
Freaking fentanyl.
What is going on?

(02:13):
I mean I just am shocked to seethat we know how dangerous it
is and yet one out of 100 peopleare still using it and
apparently the random tests arerevealing an unexpected issue.
All of this is unexpected forme, but that fentanyl positives
are seven times higher insurprise screenings than in
pre-employment tests, which, ofcourse applicants can prepare

(02:36):
for.
They know what's coming whenthey're applying for a job.
So apparently, you temporarilykick your fentanyl habit when
you're on the job market, but assoon as you get settled in, you
start again.
I mean, that's just nuts.
I'm shocked by this.
The director of science forworkforce health solutions at
Quest said that they're seeingtrends that are outside of the
norm that they see for otherdrugs.

(02:57):
Historically, yes, I would hopethis is outside of the norm,
but, man, this is much biggerthan I thought.
Now, no surprise that employersare responding to this.
Many are now expanding theirtesting protocols to include
fentanyl in standard panels,although not so standard, in my
opinion, where they'd have to dothis.
As the owner of a staffingcompany for 20 years who has

(03:19):
been responsible for tens ofthousands of drug tests on
behalf of our clients, Fentanylwas never a topic that we had to
be concerned with, but here weare in 2025.
I guess times have changed forthe worst.
Moving on to Salesforce, whohas cut 4,000 customer support
jobs and replaced them withartificial intelligence agents,
so here we go more jobs beingreplaced by AI.

(03:42):
Now this came directly fromtheir CEO, Mark Benioff, who was
on a podcast and he said thatin an almost bragging way.
I was able to rebalance myheadcount on my support.
I've reduced it from 9,000heads to about 5,000, because I
need less heads, and you couldmake the case that this makes
sense from a business standpointand perhaps it does and their

(04:05):
shareholders will benefit, butthat is 4,000 people that no
longer have a job directlybecause of AI.
We know it's inevitable thatit's going to happen, but the
main thing here is we can'tpretend otherwise and we have to
call this out so people canprotect themselves and be aware
of what is not just coming, butwhat is happening right now.

(04:27):
Our AI czar, David Sachs,hasn't acknowledged this yet.
He's gone on record sayingthings like the AI job loss
narrative is overhyped.
Well, you know what it's notoverhyped for the 4,000 people
who are now being replaced byrobots at Salesforce.
So I'm going to call this out.
Wherever I see it.

(04:47):
It's almost on a daily basiswhere I see another news report
saying that AI is not going toreplace jobs, but it is
replacing jobs, and now it'shappened at Salesforce.
Our final headline today is fromthe Federal News Network,
reporting on the 2026 federalpay plan.
It shows that the White Housequietly proposed a 1% base pay
increase for most federalcivilian employees in 2026.

(05:10):
It's the smallest raise since2021, and it doesn't come even
close to keeping up with coreinflation, which is 3.1% over
the past year.
So they're going to miss beingable to keep up with just the
standard cost of living by 2%.
That's a big miss if you're afederal employee.
I doubt we'll see a big pressconference on that.

(05:32):
They reported it as beingannounced quietly.
Yeah, I can see why they woulddo it quietly.
It's going to be a lot ofunhappy people.
I mean, the federal governmentis the largest employer in the
US by a very wide margin.
So this is not great news badnews for a lot of federal
employees.
Now the silver lining is thatfederal law enforcement officers

(05:52):
are going to get a 3.8% raisenext year.
So that's great for them, butnot good for what appears to be
pretty much everyone else.
So I'm sure we'll see thatreport in the news in the very
near future, even though itprobably won't be coming from
the Trump administration.
So those are the headlines fortoday.

(06:14):
But here's a fun fact before wego.
The term remote work gainedtraction in the 1970s.
It came about when USCresearcher and scientist, Jack
Nils, coined the termtelecommuting.
I thought it was much morerecent than that.
Apparently, his goal was toreduce traffic.
It wasn't about productivity orconvenience of working at home.
He noticed that most trafficwas just people going to home
and working back, and theyweren't going to factories or

(06:35):
places where they had to be, butthey would get to their office,
pick up the phone, talk tosomeone, and he concluded, like
why can't they just do that fromhome in the first place?
Why do they need to drive so?
Remote work originally wasabout environment, not about
increasing productivity.
So there you go.
Thanks for listening.
I appreciate it.

(06:56):
Please like, subscribe, comment.
If you have any thoughts orfeedback, I'd love to hear it
and I'll look forward to talkingto you soon.