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A.I. Doesn’t Have to Mean Layoffs by Patricia Cohen

William Attardi on June 3, 2026

A French multinational, Schneider Electric, decided to use artificial intelligence in manufacturing to make workers more productive, rather than to replace them. Here’s how that’s going. For many chief executives, success in adopting artificial intelligence is measured by the number of jobs they can eliminate. But such views reflect “a very narrow understanding” of A.I.’s potential, said Erik Brynjolfsson, who directs the Digital Economy Lab  at Stanford University. It’s a message that Schneider Electric, a global energy technology company based in France, has taken to heart. Before the company started using A.I., customer service agents received thousands of questions from callers and engaged in a grand hunt through millions of pages of information to track down the answer. Now A.I. does the hunting and details how the information was selected and the source. The agent then reviews and if necessary, modifies and refines the answer with the caller. In the last three months of 2025, call centers fielded 150,000 questions. Three-quarters of the time, A.I. was able to provide the right answer to straightforward questions. I. Doesn’t Have to Mean Layoffs – The New York Times

US Jobless Claims Inch Up, Labor Market Remains Stable

William Attardi on March 27, 2026

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, signaling a labor market that remains steady despite ongoing economic uncertainty. New data from the U.S. Department of Labor for the week ending March 21 shows initial jobless claims increased by 5,000 to 210,000. The four-week moving average was 210,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week. At the same time, continuing claims fell to 1.82 million, the lowest level since May 2024. The figures suggest layoffs remain relatively low and employers are largely holding onto workers.  US Jobless Claims Inch Up, Labor Market Remains Stable – tEDmag

US Unemployment Hovers at Historically Low Levels

William Attardi on June 22, 2025

 The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits the week of June 7 slid to 1.95 million. Weekly unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs and mostly have stayed within a healthy band of 200,000 to 250,000 since the economy recovered from a brief but painful COVID-19 recession in 2020, which temporarily wiped out millions of jobs. US Unemployment Hovers at Historically Low Levels – tEDmag

Remembering the Solemn Purpose of Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the last Monday in May to honor and mourn U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. The holiday traces its roots to the years immediately following the American Civil War (1861–1865), which caused massive casualties—roughly 620,000 soldiers dead, about 2% of the U.S. population at the time. Communities across the North and South began spontaneously decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers, wreaths, and flags, a practice that gave rise to the original name: Decoration Day. On May 5, 1868, Major General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—a powerful Union veterans’ organization—issued General Order No. 11. This proclaimed May 30, 1868, as a nationwide “Decoration Day” to honor those who died in the Civil War. After World War I, the holiday expanded to honor all American service members who died in any war, not just the Civil War.  In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to create more three-day weekends for federal employees. This moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May, effective in 1971, when it was also officially named “Memorial Day.” As one 1868 quote put it: “That Nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.”