Exclusive: Hawley and Warner introduce AI jobs bill
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are introducing a bill on Wednesday that would require major companies and the federal government to report AI-related job data to the Labor Department.
Why it matters: The bipartisan push shows there is concern on both sides of the aisle about AI's impact on jobs, even as the Trump administration champions the technology as key to U.S. competitiveness.
Driving the news: The AI-Related Jobs Impact Clarity Act would mandate that certain companies and federal agencies regularly disclose information about how AI is shaping the workforce, from layoffs to new hires.
- The Labor Department would then be required to make that information public.
What they're saying: Hawley and Warner cite Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's warning that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10–20% in the next five years and other forecasts about AI in the workplace as the impetus for the bill.
- "The American people need to have an accurate understanding of how AI is affecting our workforce, so we can ensure that AI works for the people, not the other way around," Hawley said in a statement shared with Axios.
- "This bipartisan legislation will finally give us a clear picture of AI's impact on the workforce – what jobs are being eliminated, which workers are being retrained, and where new opportunities are emerging," Warner said. "Armed with this information, we can make sure AI drives opportunity instead of leaving workers behind."
What's inside: Entities covered by the bill would be required to disclose "any artificial intelligence-related job impact" no more than 30 days after the last day of each quarter.
- They would need to report the number of people laid off, hired or retrained due to AI, per the bill text.
Context: Warner and Hawley also recently linked up for a bill that would ban AI chatbots for children.
The big picture: Lawmakers want to see data on how AI is impacting jobs as white-collar companies increasingly cite the tech as a reason for thousands of cuts.
