Hire Calling

Cornering The Job Market: Job Growth Below Expectations & Amazon's Employee Culture Crisis

• Pete Newsome

Share episode

The signals from the job market are getting harder to ignore. August’s ADP report delivered just 54,000 new private sector jobs, well below expectations and a sharp slowdown from July’s stronger showing. Economists are calling it another red flag for growth and more fuel for the Fed to consider cutting rates. 

But while headlines focus on weak hiring, a groundbreaking study quietly shattered one of the biggest workplace myths: that young people can’t stay put. It turns out Gen Z and millennials are sticking with jobs just as long as Baby Boomers did at the same age, proving that economic conditions, not attitude, drive turnover.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s dramatic culture shift under CEO Andy Jassy is rewriting the rules inside one of the world’s biggest companies. Mandatory five-day office weeks, strict expense policies, and tighter oversight are leaving employees frustrated even as profits per worker surge and shareholders cheer. 

We’ll also break down surprising new tax deductions for tipped workers, yes, even podcasters made the list, and end with the incredible story of Katherine Johnson’s 30-second interview that helped put Apollo 11 on the moon.

News Articles: 
1. APD employment report: https://adpemploymentreport.com/
2. Debunking job hopping: https://www.nirsonline.org/reports/debunkingjobhopping/
3. Life at Amazon: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-amazons-hardcore-culture-reset-day-1-roots-2025-9?
4. No tax on tip list: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Tipped-Occupations-Detailed-8-27-2025.pdf

🧠 WANT TO LEARN MORE? Be sure to subscribe and check out 4 Corner Resources at https://www.4cornerresources.com/

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

Pete Newsome:

Today's big headline is the ADP National Employment Report that was released this morning. Private employment grew by only 54,000 jobs in August versus an estimated 68,000, so another miss with the numbers. The silver lining is that we're up from where we were in June, where we lost 33,000 jobs, but it's a big step backwards from July, where 104,000 jobs were added. The biggest gains came from leisure and hospitality, construction and professional services, with the largest losses showing up in trade, transportation and utilities, and education and health services. With these numbers, following yesterday's disappointing job openings and labor turnover summary, it's more fuel on the fire for the Trump administration as they lean on the Fed to cut rates. Expect that to come very soon. In other news, the National Institute on Retirement Security released a study titled A Data-Driven Look at Tenure and Turnover Among Younger Workers. It shows Gen Z and millennials don't switch jobs more than other generations. It completely debunks the longstandingstanding job-hopping myth associated with younger workers. Here are the facts In 2024, both Gen Z and millennials ages 25 to 34, had a median job tenure of 2.7 years, which is virtually identical to the median job tenure baby boomers had at the same career stage back in 1983. It turns out that it's economic conditions, rather than generational attitudes that drive worker turnover. Quit rates rise during strong economies and fall during recessions, like we saw during the 2008 Great Recession and the 2020 pandemic. The exception is public sector jobs, since their benefits really promote retention. State and local government employees have significantly lower quit rates due to more widespread access to pensions and health care benefits. So there you go, zoomers and Millennials. You're now armed with the data to push back on any criticism you get from Boomers. Now, as a Generation X-er, I'm content to let the rest of you fight it out, since everyone pretty much agrees that it's us that's the best generation Moving on.

Pete Newsome:

Business Insider published an article titled Amazon's Hardcore Culture Reset. It says CEO Andy Jassy is dialing Amazon back to day one and it's getting ruthless. Sounds like micromanagement is in full effect right now. Employees are having to record the work-related share of their company phone use and reimbursement costs will of their company phone use, and reimbursement costs will scale down with personal use, which sounds awful for everyone involved. I wouldn't want to be on either side of that equation. No fun at all. He's also made corporate staff return to the office five days a week no flexibility whatsoever. He really wants in-person collaboration to be the standard and isn't considering other options. So how is that working is a question. Well, believe it or not, this reset appears to be bullish. Amazon stock is up 30% over the past year and profit per employee has climbed to $44,100, which is more than 5x what it was in 2022. So you have unhappy employees, happy shareholders. Can you sustain both over time? Well, I guess we'll find out. Time will tell.

Pete Newsome:

And the final headline for today the Treasury Department recently released their list of occupations that are eligible for the new no tax on tip deduction. Now, this came about through the big beautiful bill, or the new tax on tip deduction. Now, this came about through the big beautiful bill, depending on your perspective, but it's now in effect, and they've published a preliminary list of 68 tipped occupations that are eligible for a federal income tax deduction that's up to $25,000. Now, this is going to be valid from 2025 through 2028. They've broken the occupations down into eight categories beverage and food service, hospitality and guest services, home services, personal services, personal appearance and wellness, recreation and instruction, and transportation and delivery, and then entertainment events, which I find somewhat amusing because it includes dancers. The definition of a dancer is just someone who performs dances. Now, I'm not sure they've historically been diligent about paying tips anyway, but maybe I'm wrong. Also as part of that group DJs, performers, musicians but maybe I'm wrong Also as part of that group DJs, performers, musicians, podcasters and digital creators. So if you're a digital creator, you're now eligible to deduct tips. I didn't know you were getting tips, but hey, good for you. Take advantage of it. Now this deduction kicks in for individuals who are earning less than 150K a year, but in reality, more than one third of tipped workers those that are on the list already earn so little that they don't actually owe federal income tax, which clearly minimizes this law's benefit. For a full list, if you want to see it it defines all the occupations go to treasurygov. So those are your headlines for today, but before we leave, here's your fun fact.

Pete Newsome:

In 1965, nasa hired mathematician Katherine Johnson after a 30-second interview. Many claim that it's the shortest interview on record. I don't know how we could prove that. Johnson's stellar reputation as a human computer at NACA, which was NASA's predecessor, spoke for itself. She had a razor-sharp mind and could do calculations that no one else could perform. Razor sharp mind and could do calculations that no one else could perform, and they were already deemed mission critical. So the interviewer didn't need long to green light her for the Apollo trajectory work. Johnson's math ultimately helped Apollo 11 land on the moon and that proved that that brief chat was a stellar call by the interviewer. So, as a message to anyone who interviews hiring managers hr, if nasa can do it quickly, you can too. So that's it for today. Thanks for listening. Please like, subscribe, share any feedback you have and I look forward to talking to you soon.