Insider Today: White-collar recession

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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Cars with a manual transmission now make up a tiny share of autos sold in the US. An updated Porsche 911 Carrera is a reminder of how fun they can be, says BI's chief car reviewer.

On the agenda today:

• Why Comcast doesn't want its cable TV networks anymore.
• White-collar hiring is in a huge slump. Tech jobs are getting hit hard.
• Behind the accelerated crash of TGI Fridays.
• Amazon is attempting to save Alexa with AI, but it's running into some issues.

But first: Look out, government workers.

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DOGEing layoffs

For a minute there, working for the government was in vogue. TikTok videos espoused the benefits of #publicsector jobs, and Google searches for "how to get a government job" hit a five-year high. Younger workers, in particular, were drawn to employment considered less vulnerable to layoffs.

Then Elon Musk arrived on the scene.

The Department for Government Efficiency, co-headed by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has outlined plans to slash federal jobs. DOGE will work with agency appointees to find the minimum number of employees required to perform its functions, per the duo.

That has some government workers on edge. (You can see where the most federal staffers work and how much they're paid here.) Several careers consultants told Business Insider they were already experiencing a rush of demand from workers ready to shift to the private sector.

Laura Labovich, CEO of The Career Strategy Group, told BI that these workers weren't complaining about their promotion prospects or compensation, as they might have in the past.

"They just say, 'I want to leave,'" she said.

Comcast's cable TV garage sale

Comcast, one of the biggest cable TV companies in the US, announced plans to split off almost all of its cable TV networks — CNBC, MSNBC, USA, and a few digital assets — but keep the rest of its media business, including Peacock, NBC, and Bravo.

The move further cements the decline of cable, as the number of people paying for and watching these networks is falling every year, BI's Peter Kafka writes.

More on the big break up.

Also read:

• Bravo is the only cable TV network Comcast isn't get rid of. Here's why.
• CNBC's new boss reassured staffers jittery over their network getting spun off: 'Predator, not prey'

Tech jobs under fire

By all the standard economic measures, America's labor market looks fine. But ask any white-collar professional, and they'll tell you a horror story that would prove otherwise.

Hiring has held up well for low-earning workers, but those making six figures or more are in the midst of a white-collar recession. New data from LinkedIn, which tracked how often its users landed new jobs, shows that tech jobs in particular have been among the hardest hit.

More on who's being affected by the hiring slump.

TGI Failure

Your age probably says a lot about how you remember TGI Fridays. The restaurant chain began as a singles bar in the '60s, and then it evolved into a family-friendly spot in the '80s and '90s. Now, it's a place no one really wants to go.

Fridays closed 36 underperforming corporate-owned restaurants at the beginning of the year and recently filed for bankruptcy. Its slow decline and accelerated crash is a familiar story for many restaurant chains.

Why casual dining went bust.

Alexa needs a(n AI) hero

Amazon's voice assistant became something of a household icon when it launched a decade ago. But maintaining that success has proved difficult.

Now, the company is trying to save Alexa with an AI-powered upgrade and improved capabilities. Partnerships with Uber and Ticketmaster were supposed to make Alexa smarter — but issues have delayed the upgrade's release.

Are you there, Alexa?

This week's quote:

"Chrome has served Google exceptionally well, but its loss would be a manageable inconvenience."

— Teiffyon Parry, chief strategy officer at adtech company Equativ, on the DOJ's request that Google sell off Chrome.

More of this week's top reads:

• Product managers rule Silicon Valley. Not everyone is happy about it.
• Young people flocked to these 10 rural places before the election. Nine went for Trump.
• A product manager shares the résumé that got him a $300K job at Amazon.
• They set out to help people leave Twitter. Now they can't keep up with demand.
• Microsoft's Copilot has an oversharing problem. The company is trying to help customers fix it.
• Two Sigma's new leaders made their mark with hundreds of job cuts. Here's what could come next.
• Elon Musk's Neuralink is hiring technicians to ramp up manufacturing.
• Startups that rely on Chinese manufacturers are bracing for Trump's impact.

• Shoppers are buying like it's 2008, Ikea CEO Jesper Brodin told BI.

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  The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.