Is the job market really cooling or just recalibrating?

New data from PayScale paints a more complex picture: unemployment is rising, participation is declining, yet wages are still increasing in critical, high-stakes sectors. From energy and electronics to construction and compliance, pay growth now follows scarcity, risk, and reliability. Host Pete Newsome breaks down which roles are leading the charge (think utilization review coordinators, IT project managers, and internal auditors) and what that means for your 2026 planning.

Then we turn to the federal shutdown, now stretching past a month, as more than 700,000 workers face prolonged furloughs and uncertain back pay. Pete unpacks the human and institutional toll, lost morale, eroding retention, and the quiet exodus of top talent, and explores how leaders can make clear, deliberate decisions before dysfunction does it for them.

Finally, Pete zooms out to America’s vanishing jobs, from the farm to the factory to the algorithm. The shift from manual labor to digital leverage isn’t new, but AI is accelerating the cycle. We share practical strategies to adapt, including mapping tasks to automation, measuring outcomes, and upskilling where human judgment still prevails.

Whether you’re managing payroll or navigating your next career move, the message is the same: choose precision over panic and adapt early.
 
👉 What do you think: Are we witnessing a cooling market or a quiet reinvention of work?

News Articles:
1. Pay trends and modern market pricing in the age of AI: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/pay-trends-report
2. Shutdown furloughs extended to late Nov: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2025/10/feds-told-shutdown-furloughs-extended-to-late-november/
3. The biggest careers that have now vanished, according to data: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/03/what-common-jobs-have-mostly-disappeared-us-heres-data/

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👋 FOLLOW PETE NEWSOME ONLINE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewsome/
Blog Articles: https://www.4cornerresources.com/blog