Brent Orrell

Senior Fellow, AEI and Host at Hardly Working with Brent Orrell

Senior Fellow - American Enterprise Institute. Hardly Working podcast. @BulwarkOnline, @LawLiberty, @thedispatch, @DeseretNews, @WashingtonMonthly

Articles

Tag Archive: Labor issues

1 week ago | aei.org | Nicholas Eberstadt |Brent Orrell |Josh Boynton |James Pethokoukis

Post Workforce Participation for Older Americans: Warning Lights Flashing Post AI “Slop” Comes for Job Interviews Post Powering AI: The Energy Workforce Crisis No One Is Talking About Post Pushback Against an Emerging Robot Revolution Post Why Are Business Organizations Withdrawing from DEI? Multimedia Society of Professional Economists—Econ Thoughts: Interview with Nicholas Eberstadt Article Why Populist Economics Is Bad: Trade Protectionism Edition Article Some Anti-Progress Lessons from...
Without Qualified Workers, Our CHIPS Investments Could Be Money Down the Drain

1 week ago | aei.org | Brent Orrell |David Hernandez

Three years ago, the Biden administration, backed by big bipartisan majorities in Congress, launched the CHIPS and Science Act to revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing. After decades of outsourcing that reduced the U.S. production share of advanced chips from 37 percent to 10 percent, this “industrial policy” investment was justified as necessary for national security and as a measure to reinvigorate manufacturing.
What will tariffs and AI do to the job market in 2025?

1 week ago | deseret.com | Brent Orrell |Josh Boynton

It's been a rough month for hiring plans. The market volatility ignited by President Donald Trump's tariff policies has made business planning difficult, and that includes any intentions of hiring. Combined with the accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence, disruptions to the labor market don't appear to be slowing anytime soon. Recent surveys indicate that around 25% of U.S. firms have scaled back hiring plans due to tariff-related uncertainty and rising input costs.
Tag Archive: US labor market | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

2 weeks ago | aei.org | Brent Orrell |Josh Boynton |Stan Veuger |Ferdinando Monte

Op-Ed Tariffs Plus AI Makes for a Rocky Job Market. How Should Workers Prepare? Report State of the Capitol Region 2025–The Capital Region Post-COVID: What Changed and What’s Next?
Response to the Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan

1 month ago | aei.org | Will Rinehart |John Bailey |Brent Orrell

Executive SummaryThe United States stands at a critical juncture in AI policy where measured, strategic governance is essential for maintaining technological leadership. Overregulation risks stifling innovation, while a fragmented state-by-state approach creates compliance burdens that disproportionately impact smaller companies. Rather than rushing new regulations, we should leverage existing legal frameworks, and implement targeted, evidence-based interventions only where clearly necessary.
AI Talent: It’s Not Just for High Tech Anymore

1 month ago | aei.org | Brent Orrell |Tanner Nalley

We appear to be approaching the break-out phase of artificial intelligence’s diffusion across the American economy. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, recent data from the University of Maryland’s AI job tracker finds that nearly 25 percent of tech job postings earlier this year mentioned AI skills. And it isn’t just the tech sector that’s hiring—finance, professional services, retail, and manufacturing are all on the hunt for staff who can help them integrate AI into their operations.
A Glut of MBAs?

2 months ago | aei.org | Brent Orrell

You know the labor market times are changing when Harvard MBAs start showing up in the unemployment stories. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, 23 percent of recent Harvard Business School grads were still looking for work three months after graduation. In 2022, that figure was only 10 percent. Other top-rated programs report similar trends. What’s going on? Share of Job-Seeking MBA Graduates Without Jobs Three Months After GraduationAs usual, the answer seems to be multi-factorial.
AI and American Dynamism

2 months ago | brentorrell.substack.com | Brent Orrell

Last year, I published a report, The Age of Uncertainty, on the challenges in understanding and estimating the job and skill impacts of artificial intelligence. One of the big problems was how quickly expert estimates become outdated, not due to any fault on the part of the experts, but because of how rapidly AI is evolving. Two reports from the Brookings Institution—one from 2019 and another just last week—illustrate the fluid and unpredictable nature of AI development.
AI and American Dynamism

2 months ago | aei.org | Brent Orrell |Tanner Nalley

Last year, I published a report, The Age of Uncertainty, on the challenges in understanding and estimating the job and skill impacts of artificial intelligence. One of the big problems was how quickly expert estimates become outdated, not due to any fault on the part of the experts, but because of how rapidly AI is evolving. Two reports from the Brookings Institution—one from 2019 and another just last week—illustrate the fluid and unpredictable nature of AI development.
AI and the future of work looks bright

Feb 11, 2025 | deseret.com | Brent Orrell

One of the hottest guessing games in workforce development is figuring out how generative artificial intelligence will affect jobs and how to prepare students and workers for an AI-infused economy. The future of work looks bright, but the full potential of AI to increase productivity and raise wages and incomes will only be realized if we implement policies and programs that equip workers to understand and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.