Elon Musk’s AI Prediction, 750K Federal Workers Unpaid, & Hiring Scams Rise

Additional Resources

• Elon Musk’s X Post
• Robert Walter’s Global Index Report
• Senate Blocks Bills to Pay Federal Workers During Shutdown
• 1 in 4 Job Seekers Fell for Hiring Scams in 2025

Transcript

Pete Newsome: 0:00

Happy Friday, everyone. The top job market headlines in this week are that federal workers continue to go unpaid as the shutdown drags on and job scams are exploding. But first, Elon Musk and Bernie Sanders are in agreement, at least about one thing. Here’s what happened. Earlier this week, Elon posted on X that robots and AI will replace all jobs. How’s that for a definitive statement from the guy who is arguably the world’s expert in that space? And whether you like him or not, you can’t deny his success. And I believe he has a history of being right, more often than not, about these things.

0:38

He’s someone we should listen to. He also went on to write that working will be optional, like growing your own vegetables instead of buying them from the store. I love his optimism, but I’m not so confident that that’s how it will play out. There’s a very big gap between AI taking jobs and we now live in a utopian society where you don’t have to work if you don’t want to. Sounds nice, but I’m skeptical to say the least.

1:03

Now, Bernie Sanders agreed with him on X. He wrote, I don’t often agree with Elon Musk. Yes, we know that, but I fear that he may be right when he says AI and robots will replace all jobs. So what happens to workers who have no jobs and no income? I’m nearly certain that Senator Sanders posed that question rhetorically, but it’s one that deserves an answer. And as we rush forward in this direction, the people who are in power, the ones who are in the best position to advance AI, they’re telling us it’s going to happen. They intend for it to happen. And in Elon’s case, he’s positioning it as a good thing. And I’m just not that sure. In fact, I am worried about the opposite. I’m worried about a potentially devastating impact by AI to the job market. And we’re rushing forward in that direction. It seems inevitable to me at this point.

1:59

And I want to be wrong, as I always say, let me be chicken little with this, but I’d rather be wrong than caught off guard. I don’t want anyone else to be caught off guard either because the people who potentially matter most in this scenario, the ones creating the solutions, tools, products, AI, robots, they’re saying this is happening. They’re saying it’s inevitable. So no one should be caught off guard by that when it actually takes place. Time will tell. In the next headline today, the government shutdown is entering its fourth week, and yesterday the Senate failed to pass three bills aimed at paying federal employees.

2:32

Senator Ron Johnson’s proposal to pay only essential workers like TSA agents and air traffic controllers failed after Democrats said it gave too much control to the White House over who gets paid. On the other side, Republicans blocked two Democrat bills that would have paid all federal workers and barred the administration from firing anyone during the shutdown. President Trump called the Senate vote a test for Democrats, accusing them of not wanting to pay workers who are currently on the job.

2:59

Johnson indicated he was open to revising his bill to include back pay for furloughed workers, but the Democrats remained opposed unless it also prevents the administration from firing employees. So, look, this is an impasse where Democrats want Republicans to agree to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies before they expire later this year, and the GOP is insisting that it won’t negotiate those terms until government funding is approved. The sides just aren’t budging. And while these politicians are fighting and they’re failing to act, as Congress is obligated to do, and specifically the Senate right now, since the House has already done its job, nearly three million federal workers are caught in the middle. And listen, that is not good for anyone. This needs to end sooner than later.

3:44

They need to do their job that they were voted in office to do, hopefully sooner than later. And in the final headline, six in ten job seekers in the U.S. encountered at least one fake job posting or recruiter this year. That’s according to a new survey from passwordmanager.com. Even more concerning is that one in four fell for a scam, and nearly half of them had money or personal data stolen. Scammers most often impersonated Amazon, Google, FedEx, UPS, and Walmart using fake listings on Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, or messages via email and text. I get those texts constantly. I don’t know if anyone listening does, but it’s almost daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and I don’t know where they get my information or think that I would be a good fit for these jobs, but it just seems very scammy from the start.

4:39

And some victims in this uh even participated in fake interviews run by AI chatbots pretending to be hiring managers. Among those who lost money, 5% lost more than $10,000, and one in four lost more than $2,000. Look, we’ve reached a point where job seekers need to verify that a recruiter is real before they start applying. And that probably won’t happen because of one-click apply. But I encourage everyone to do research before you go into an interview. If you want to just one click apply, great. But I would also argue that that is a very low success rate. If you want to have more success, you should personalize your applications and take extra steps when you do apply. And do a little research. Look up the companies, look up their website, look up their Google reviews, look at their LinkedIn presence.

5:28

A little bit of effort, while you may not want to put it in, uh, will prevent a scam from happening if you look to go forward with a job. And there’s also an obligation from the employer side. Make sure that your digital presence is strong. Make sure that your branding is intact. You should be signaling credibility online so job seekers can feel confident that you are who you say you are. So unfortunately, technology has led us here, and a little bit of effort on both sides is needed. Um which, you know, there’s just no way around it at this point that I can think of. And before we wrap up today, here’s this week’s fun fact. The average American who works in an office spends more than 100 hours commuting every year.

6:13

Okay, that’s not fun at all. Fun for everyone who’s remote, I guess, but that’s two more than two full work weeks combined, just getting to work. It’s a great argument for anyone who uh doesn’t want to return to the office if your company is making you do that. And listen, selfishly, I like working at home.

6:30

I’m glad that my employees get to work from anywhere. That’s great. I do see the benefits of working in the office, so I’m not taking that stance fully. There’s some things that we certainly miss as a result of being fully virtual. But um, man, no one wants to spend time commuting. That is a bummer. So thank you for listening today. Please like, subscribe, share with anyone who might be interested. And I look forward to talking to you next week.