👋 Hola amigos!

Cinco de Mayo is in the rear-view mirror, while a popular online language app is in the HR news.

Duolingo announced that it’s replacing human contractors with—drumroll, please—AI. CEO Luis von Ahn explained the move will “counter human limitations in creating the ‘massive amount of content’ Duolingo needs to scale.”

So, much like the fabled phoenix, feathery corporate mascot Duo the Owl has been resurrected as Duo 2.0: The AI Owl.

Today’s edition is a 3-minute read. Here’s what to expect 👇

💋 Lipstick and layoffs: What’s the link?
🪙 The minimum wage is actually poverty-level income
⚖️ Thomas Reuters wins the first-ever AI lawsuit
🔪 UPS slices its workforce ahead of tariff issues

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NEWS

One Thing You Should Know This Week

Recruitics: Lipstick, Tariffs, and Talent Strategy

The April jobs report came in steady on the surface—177,000 new jobs, flat unemployment, and no real movement in quit rates. But scratch that polished veneer and you’ll find signals of an economy trying not to flinch. GDP fell for the first time in three years. Job seeker sentiment is sinking. And applications per job dropped to a worrisome 4.8.

In short: the data says we’re fine, but the mood? The mood says “brace yourself.”

We’ll be keeping an eye on lipstick sales, one way or another.

🖼️ The big picture

We’re in a strange moment: hiring hasn’t stopped, but caution is in the air. Job seekers are staying put, employers are holding back on external hiring, and sentiment signals—like the lipstick index—hint at people grasping for stability. Meanwhile, tariff whiplash is back, affecting planning and workforce strategies in sectors like manufacturing and logistics.

✏️ Footnotes from the frontlines

Here are five ripple effects talent pros should have on their radar:

1. Location strategy is shifting. Nearshoring and reshoring could open up new talent pools. Time to scout.
2. Hiring slows in tariff-sensitive sectors. Think: manufacturing, logistics, and import-heavy industries.
3. Strategic roles stay hot. Especially in AI, automation, and efficiency-driven functions.
4. Raises? Not so fast. Policy uncertainty is squeezing margins, and early 2025 comp data is already tracking lower than 2024.
5. Layoff optics matter. External hiring may slow as companies try to avoid PR fallout from over-hiring and later cuts.

💼 What this means for TAs

Stay close to hiring managers and watch your employer brand like a hawk. Honest job descriptions, proactive comms, and market intelligence tools will go a long way. Especially with longer-term unemployment on the rise and internship opportunities down, being transparent and strategic is everything right now.

👔 What this means for job seekers

Job seekers—especially new grads—face a tougher climb. Internships are down, salary expectations are misaligned (grads expect $101K, but average offers hover at $68K), and competition in hot sectors like AI is fierce. Still, the right opportunities are out there. Focus on skills-based roles, explore contract work, and look for employers that invest in internal mobility.

🔮 Looking ahead

Lipstick sales and tariff chatter may not make up a traditional economic barometer—but they do tell us how people are feeling: uncertain. For TA teams, now’s the time to listen closely, plan thoughtfully, and get real about what job seekers need in a market that feels unpredictable, even if the numbers aren’t screaming crisis—yet.

NUMBERS

Numbers That’ll Make You Think

• – 0.3% — The GDP annual growth rate in Q1 2025, its first drop in three years (New York Times)
• $7.25 — The minimum wage since 2009—and now a poverty wage, according to the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines (Economic Policy Institute)
• 62% — The percentage of job seekers who said they’d avoid applying to companies using too much generative AI in their recruiting efforts (HR Tech Feed)
• 228,000 — The number of new jobs added to the economy in March, despite tariff, stock market, consumer sentiment, and federal layoffs whiplash (Recruitics)
• 21% — The amount that global employee engagement and overall productivity declined in 2024 (Gallup)
• 91% — The percentage of C-suite executives who said they knew more about AI at work than they actually did (HR Dive)

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INDUSTRY INTEL

C-Suite Shakeups, Executive Moves, & Other Things To Know

• Hiring platform Greenhouse appointed HR expert Paaras Parker as its new Chief People Officer (CPO), where she’ll focus on boosting the company’s growth trajectory (PR Newswire)
• Thomson Reuters won the first major AI copyright case against Ross Intelligence, proving allegations that the latter reproduced materials from the former’s legal research firm, Westlaw (WIRED)
• HR software company TeamOhana secured $7.5 million in seed funding to launch its Agentic AI workforce planning platform, currently in beta (HR Tech Feed)
• Companies promoted HR executives in April: Julio Manso as Associate Banc-Corp’s CHRO, Kristin Oliver as Hyatt Hotels’ CHRO, Helio Fujita as Mars Petcare’s Global People and Organization Vice President, and Christy Pambianchi as Caterpillar’s CHRO (HR Dive)
• State and local governments welcome applications from laid-off federal employees, but bureaucracy, red tape, and approval processes are hampering hires (Wall Street Journal)
• AI tools lend a helping hand and increase opportunities for job seekers targeting new and different employment ventures (Wall Street Journal)

LAYOFFS

Places For You To Source Fresh Talent

• UPS will cut 20,000 operational jobs in the wake of its Amazon breakup and anticipated tariffs (Reuters)
• Electronic Arts, one of the industry’s largest third-party video game publishers, will lay off over 300 employees; one-third of the cuts will impact Respawn Entertainment (Mashable)
• Expedia Group’s restructuring includes laying off 3% of its workforce, with cuts taking place in the product and technology teams (Yahoo Finance)
• A Meta company spokesperson confirmed employee layoffs from the company’s Reality Labs division, impacting game division Oculus Studios (The Verge)

 👋 Thanks for reading!