Small businesses are starting to crack amid a weakening economy, rising costs and fickle consumers; and they drove job losses in the US private sector in November, payroll giant ADP reported Wednesday.

AI jobs, emerging roles, and workforce transformation highlight how AI is reshaping hiring, development, and retention in the modern workplace.

Weakening job growth could lock in an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, according to economists.

U.S. employers have laid off the highest number of workers since the pandemic weakened the global economy.

The ADP employment report revealed that 32,000 nonfarm private jobs were lost in November. This figure was below the expected addition of 5,000 jobs and marks a sharp decline from the 47,000 jobs added in October. The 32,000 loss is the largest since March 2023 and the fourth month of job losses in the past six months.

California employers announced 173,022 job cuts in the first 11 months of this year, up nearly 14% from the same period last year, according to data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Artificial intelligence represents the biggest technological upheaval to the world economy since the rise of the internet a quarter-century ago. It has brought trillions of dollars of investment and dizzying stock-market gains, but also a shortage of memory chips, regulatory scrutiny, and rising anxiety about job displacement.

US companies shed payrolls in November by the most since early 2023, adding to concerns about a more pronounced weakening in the labor market. Private-sector payrolls fell by 32,000 according ADP data on Wednesday.