^{8 billion people, 6 5 billion jobs....}

https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-can-already-do-the-work-of-12-of-america-s-workforce-mit-study-says/ar-AA1Re4XQ

From Reddit today:

"What trillion-dollar problem is Al trying to solve?" Wages."

https://www.reddit.com/r/programare/comments/1pai409/what_trilliondollar_problem_is_al_trying_to_solve/

It is starting to look like trades and/or self-employment are the only ways people are going to claw ahead in the near future.

> trades

We're on the cusp of being able to wipe out massive chunks of the trades.  Who needs framing crews or trim carpenters with 3dp housing?  And 'drivers' are the #1 job category in many states.

Theory X is on steroids with the development of 21st century tech. But Debbie keeps wondering about the Henry Ford dilemma.  She's not sure what happens to a capitalistic economy when T-X is applied at scale.

https://th3core.com/chat/index.php?topic=515.msg4700#msg4700

The whole thread is worth a read.

Employers have cut 1.1 million jobs this year. Here's what's behind the wave of layoffs. - CBS News

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/employers-cut-1-1-million-jobs-2025-why-layoffs-rising/

> trades

QuoteJim Farley, the Ford CEO who predicted that half of white-collar jobs could disappear in a decade, has been saying that the auto industry is short hundreds of thousands of technicians to work in dealerships—jobs that sit in a long-term sweet spot: technical enough to earn six figures, and dependent on precise manual dexterity that makes them hard to roboticize.

I doubt the gift link works twice, but...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/03/ai-economy-labor-market-transformation/685731/?gift=gKr7Rf-PcY1copxoxk_lLCutWWqHVVdTTjpEf0Er73k

QuoteTwitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is now the CEO of Block, which runs payment services like Square and Cash App. On Thursday, he announced plans to lay off more than 4,000 workers — 40 percent of the workforce — and Block's share price soared.

"Something has changed," Dorsey wrote in a tweet. "The intelligence tools we're creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. And that's accelerating rapidly."

https://www.understandingai.org/p/sorry-skeptics-ai-really-is-changing