What We're Reading: New Skills, Talent and Development [Thursday, September 25, 2025]

According to Indeed’s 2025 AI at Work Report, about half of the skills required for most jobs will undergo “hybrid” transformation, meaning that generative AI can perform the bulk of routine work for these skills, but human oversight will still be necessary. The report also found that less than 1% of skills evaluated are “very likely” to be completely replaced by AI.

​​A new report from General Assembly found that only 22% of company leaders believe that entry-level employees are “very” or “completely” prepared to handle their role. More than half (56%) of those company leaders who believe entry-level workers are unprepared point to a lack of soft skills as the primary reason. 

Earlier this week, the Department of Labor awarded both Alabama and Colorado $12.5 million in funding to advance the development of Registered Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships. Alabama will use the funding to expand Registered Apprenticeships by reducing start-up costs and making the registration process simpler. Colorado will use the funding to develop tools and resources to expand pre-apprenticeships and integrate existing youth apprenticeships with CTE and post secondary pathways.

Millennials are increasingly taking the reins as management in the American workforce—and increasingly burning out. Education at Work CEO Jane Swift points to a lack of structured training and successor planning as key drivers of the burnout trend. “Nobody trained millennials to be managers,” Swift remarked to Fortune, “because we did away with these training programs.”

In a survey of over 1,000 business leaders across the United States, nearly 3 in 10 say they’ve already replaced jobs with AI this year, and about 4 in 10 expect to replace jobs with AI by the end of 2026. Additionally, half of employers say they’ve pulled back on hiring, and 35% expect to lay workers off by the end of the year. [HR Dive]

The companies that are most effective at scaling AI take intentional steps to activate it across their whole workforce, argues General Assembly Chief Business Officer Jourdan Hathaway in The AI Innovator. Hathaway believes that organizations need to begin with the end in mind, be thoughtful about which AI tools they choose to adopt, connect skills training to company strategy, and carefully track and incentivize positive outcomes to put AI to good use.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the College Board have partnered to offer new AP courses to create more career pathways for America’s high school students.  A survey conducted by the organizations found 84% of hiring managers believe high school graduates are not ready for work.  As a result, the Chamber and College Board are designing courses to equip high school students with practical workforce skills, including business and personal finance and cybersecurity.

HR software startups are on pace to raise more in 2025 than in 2024, with global funding at $1.9 billion as of mid-September 2025 compared to $2 billion for all of 2024. While this is far less than its peak of $10.5 billion raised in 2021, this uptick signals that investment in the sector is resurging as global competition for hiring and retaining employees has intensified. Meanwhile, M&A activity is also intensifying, as shown by Workday’s recent acquisitions of AI-powered hiring platforms Sana and Paradox. [Crunchbase News]

Student loan borrowers in default are preparing to have the government withhold up to 15% of their wages. More than 2 million borrowers are at immediate risk of wage garnishment, with another 1 million to 2 million likely to default in the coming months. According to Stand Together Trust’s Steve Taylor, borrowers can ease the burden of repayment by negotiating a repayment plan, some of which are specifically scaled for low-income borrowers. “It’s important that borrowers stay engaged with their servicers and begin making payments because ignoring loans only increases the risk of falling into collections,” he said. [Fortune, subscription model]

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the slowdown in the labor market has become a greater concern than persistent inflation, prompting last week’s decision to cut the central bank’s benchmark interest rate. In a speech in Rhode Island, he noted that the Fed’s current stance—“still modestly restrictive”—provides flexibility to adjust to future economic shifts. [CNBC]

Increasing uncertainty over the full impact of U.S. tariffs is expected to slow economic growth, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. American consumers are starting to feel the effects, shown through more limited spending. Duties have also led some companies to lay off workers and curb hiring. The overall effective U.S. tariff rate, now at an estimated 19.5%has slowed economic and trade activity, with growth forecasted to only reach 3.2% this year, compared with 3.3% in 2024. [The New York Times, subscription model]

Employees are now staying in roles that they’ve outgrown, taking on a “date them till you hate them” mentality. Similar to the “job hugging” trend, Gen Z workers are taking on more toxic relationship habits and staying in jobs longer, even if they are unhappy, as they face a stagnating labor market. On the other side, employers are using similar tactics, often ghosting recruiting emails and putting fewer resources toward recruitment as budgets get tighter. [Fortune, subscription model]