Welcome in, today is Monday, August tenth, and we begin with HR Dive on technology job losses climbing while layoffs slow everywhere else. Job losses in the technology sector are running higher year over year, even as layoffs slow across the rest of the economy. HR Dive reports that finding from Challenger, Gray and Christmas, whose report points to artificial intelligence as a possible driver of the increase. That account frames the divergence as sector-specific, which is the part that bears on planning. A cooling national layoff picture offers no cover if your headcount sits in tech, and redeployment paths narrow when the contraction concentrates in one function. Reaction in the trade leans toward reading the shift as a repricing rather than a skills shortage, with a recurring concern that the thinning of entry-level analytical roles, rather than the headline totals, is where the cost shows up years out. Also today, the July jobs report, following our earlier look at what to expect from it. The United States economy lost twenty-three thousand jobs last month, against expectations of an eighty thousand gain among economists polled by Bloomberg. That is Bureau of Labor Statistics data, as reported by Jezebel. The same release revised May and June down by a combined one hundred three thousand. The unemployment rate still fell, to four point one percent from four point two. The Associated Press, in reporting carried by zivvynews, attributes that to two hundred sixty-four thousand people leaving the labor force rather than to stronger hiring. By sector, the Daily Sun reports local government education shed fifty thousand jobs, retail trade nineteen thousand, and financial activities fourteen thousand, while health care added twenty-two thousand. Average hourly earnings rose three point two percent over the year, lagging inflation. Headcount and pay assumptions built on a growth month now sit on a different baseline. Reaction leans toward treating the downward revisions, not the headline print, as the more troubling signal, with recruiting-side commentary describing the market as frozen rather than hot or cold. Separately, benefits. Insurers are seeking premium increases of roughly fourteen percent on small group plans next year, according to KFF's read of rate filings, reported by HR Dive. That is another year of double-digit increases for small employers, and insurers, per that same account, say their hands are tied. It follows our earlier report on soaring medical costs pushing employers to tighten benefits, and it lands directly in renewal-season budgeting, and at the margin, in whether smaller employers keep offering coverage at all. Some benefits practitioners frame the increase as compounding rather than isolated, arriving on top of already-rising property, auto and liability renewals, and narrowing the realistic options to dropping coverage, quietly thinning it, or financing the renewal to protect cash flow. North of the border, the picture runs the other way. Statistics Canada's July Labour Force Survey shows seventy-five thousand jobs added and the unemployment rate down to six point four percent, its lowest level since July twenty twenty-four. HRD Canada reports employment rose zero point four percent nationally, with Ontario adding fifty-two thousand jobs and British Columbia eighteen thousand. TD Economics senior economist Andrew Hencic told that outlet the gain was solid and came despite a growing labour force, with the same report carrying economist commentary that hiring is getting a little bit more competitive as a whole. For employers recruiting or benchmarking pay across the border, that is the line worth tracking. Industry reaction leans skeptical that one strong month marks a turn, with several practitioners pointing to flat vacancies and to regional and sectoral splits the national headline masks. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Reuters reports the National Labor Relations Board ruled two to one that a Seattle Starbucks manager's comments about picking up shifts at non-union stores were lawful, reversing an administrative law judge. Personnel Today reports disability discrimination claims are up seventy-nine percent, as mental health issues and neurodiversity awareness continue to grow. Also from Personnel Today, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld a professor's discrimination claim against the University of Bristol over his anti-Zionist beliefs, confirming anti-Zionism as a protected belief. And finally, the REC describes rays of light in the UK jobs market in July, with temporary vacancies rising for the first time in two years, per Personnel Today.