# structural unemployment

When AI Is the Official Reason for Layoffs: How Block’s Cut Rewrites the Job Contract

Jack Dorsey’s announcement that Block will cut nearly half its staff and explicitly attribute the move to AI represents a turning point: profitable companies can now publicly justify large-scale layoffs on automation grounds. The market’s positive reaction and similar moves by major firms suggest a structural, not cyclical, shift in employment that erodes traditional entry-level pathways and disperses accountability for job loss.