Major U.S. corporations frequently tout their support for veteran hiring, but a new RAND Corporation analysis of S&P 500 companies finds that what companies say, what they give, and who they hire often diverge in meaningful ways.
Protected veteran hiring at S&P 500 federal contractors stood at 2.4% of new hires in 2025, less than half the 5.1% national benchmark that took effect that year.
Veteran-related grants account for less than 1% of observed S&P 500 foundation giving; most active corporate foundations direct no grant dollars to veteran causes.
High-quality regulatory disclosures fell sharply in 2025 and 2026, which RAND attributes in part to the broader DEI retreat: some firms had housed veteran programs alongside other DEI activities and drew on the same staff and resources, even though federal veteran hiring obligations remain in place and are legally distinct from race- or sex-based preferences.
More military-related federal business does not reliably translate into stronger veteran support: industries with larger defense contracts do not consistently disclose more, give more, or report higher protected veteran employment.
Read more via RAND Corporation
As many tech companies pull back on entry-level hiring, Snowflake is making the opposite bet. The data/AI platform says junior engineers make up 70%-80% of its current hiring, with the argument that eliminating the bottom of the talent pipeline will create a leadership gap that can't be fixed later.
95% of Snowflake's engineers use coding agents weekly; the company is pushing toward 100% daily usage.
A small but growing group (5%-10% of Snowflake's engineering organization) is operating as "tech leads for teams of agents," managing agents while remaining accountable for decisions and tradeoffs.
Junior engineers have an edge in adopting AI-native workflows because they are learning them from day one, but the company says they still need explicit training on how to work with agents effectively.
If you stop hiring junior engineers because AI can do some of their work, your short-term margins might look great. But five years from now, when the industry desperately needs senior leaders who are native to this way of working, those leaders won't exist."
Read more via Fast Company
More than 4 in 10 workers now believe they are more likely to get a raise by leaving and rejoining their company than by staying, up from 18% who said the same in 2024, according to a new report from professional services firm Marsh. The findings point to a broader breakdown in trust between employers and employees on compensation.
Workers who feel fairly compensated report being 85% more engaged and 60% more committed.
Nearly three-quarters of HR leaders say skills-based pay drives retention, but only 26% have implemented it; just 31% of employees believe they would be compensated for upskilling.
92% of investors surveyed said they would reduce or eliminate investment in firms with employee pay issues.
Employees are exhausted, they don't believe the system is fair, and the moment the job market improves, they will leave."
Read more via HR Dive
An analysis of nearly 50,000 job postings by tech talent company Andela finds that AI is creating new roles faster than the industry can name them or match skills to titles. Among more than 1,800 postings for AI engineer, ML engineer, and similar roles, more than half conflated skill sets associated with at least two distinct positions.
Machine learning engineers are increasingly being asked to have software architect or back-end engineering skills; DevOps experts are expected to know cloud engineering; front-end engineers are being pushed toward product management responsibilities.
Andela identified several emerging role categories including "LLM application engineer," "DevSecOps security engineer," and "FinOps reliability engineer," a role combining cloud infrastructure cost tracking with AI token consumption budgeting.
The pace of change is creating what Andela calls "talent debt": companies accumulating workers whose skills are becoming obsolete faster than employers can adapt.
27% of U.S. workers now worry that technology could make their jobs obsolete, a new high and roughly double the 13% recorded when Gallup first asked the question in 2017. The increase is sharpest among younger and college-educated workers.
Workers under 45 are now more worried about technological displacement than about layoffs, reduced hours, or wage cuts; at 34%, it ties benefit reductions as their top job concern.
Concern among college graduates has risen from 8% in 2021 to 25% today, narrowing a gap that once separated them from non-college workers.
Workers 45 and older remain far less concerned, at 19%, with benefit reductions still their leading worry at 34%.
Read more via Gallup
55% of Gen Z workers surveyed said they intend to look for a new role before the end of 2026, up from less than a third who said the same a year ago, according to a report from staffing firm Robert Half. Better pay, benefits, and advancement opportunities are the primary drivers.
56% of those planning to leave cited better perks and benefits; half said their career advancement is currently limited; 53% believe a new employer would increase their earnings.
U.S. employers expect to set base salary merit increases at 3.2% and total salary increases at 3.5% in 2027, per a separate Marsh compensation planning survey; 64% said they had provided or planned to provide off-cycle salary adjustments.
83% of employers said healthcare cost increases are forcing tradeoffs with wage and salary increases, per a National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions survey.
Recording, transcription, and AI-generated summaries are increasingly standard in job interviews, creating a new dynamic for both employers and candidates. 70% of U.S. employers are now using AI in their hiring processes, according to a 2025 survey by TestGorilla.
A hiring manager may evaluate a candidate based solely on an AI-generated summary without watching the interview; AI notetakers have been found to make errors and omit context.
Research published in the ACM FAccT Proceedings found racial bias in AI screening tools: 26% of Black applicants and 15% of Asian applicants applied to positions where the AI system discriminated against their racial group; the software recommended 58.2% of applicants to hiring managers, with the rest likely rejected without human review.
47% of active AI notetaker users said the tool had recorded or shared something they did not intend to capture.
Behind every transcript, summary, and score, hiring is still fundamentally a human decision."
Read more via Challenger, Gray & Christmas
Amazon is raising pay by $1 per hour for eligible full-time employees in core operations, bringing its minimum starting wage to $20 per hour and its average starting wage to roughly $24 per hour. The company also announced new financial and grocery benefits.
A new banking benefit called Day 1 Financial gives employees membership in First Tech Federal Credit Union, with no overdraft or monthly maintenance fees, no account minimums, and no credit history required.
Starting in October, all U.S. employees will receive 10% off eligible grocery and everyday essentials on Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market online, and 20% off in Whole Foods stores.
