One thing I keep missing in these AI layoff articles about the United States is that a huge percentage of tech workers lost their jobs because of tax changes. It was a little known tax code that was modified.
The tax code allowed a deduction of worker salaries and benefits if they were engaged in pure research. This write off is what powered many of the invocations from the USA and was done for decades. The change mandated this be deducted over ten years instead of the next year.
For a long time, companies could write off the cost of salaries on their taxes, if the workers were doing research. This was changed by the republicans, and most of these private research departments closed . It was what caused a lot of the major layoffs this year in the mega corps.
That, coupled with the public research departments being laid off , caused a cascade bouncing off entry level jobs in tech.
Very little of this has to do with AI, and I think the misinformation is driven by a combination of AI hype, and PR by some companies laying off workers.
Yeah, I’m convinced that companies use AI to mask the layoffs they were already planning. It just gives them an excuse.
Good news! There are options! ICE or extraordinary rendition!
