Corporate workers are fighting for a shrinking pool of jobs as mass lay-offs and a hiring slowdown stoke fears of a “white-collar recession”, amid mounting pressure from tariffs, slowing economic growth and artificial intelligence.

In the past week, companies including Amazon, Paramount, United Parcel Service and Target have all announced they will slash a combined 31,800 office-based roles, with some directly citing plans to use AI to reduce their labour force. Others cited rising costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs regime and falling sales as consumers curtail their spending.

The recent cuts mark the end of nearly six years of high job security for high-earning human resources specialists, marketers, managers, software developers and other knowledge workers whose ranks have expanded rapidly since the start of Covid-19 pandemic. These workers’ spending has upheld the US economy in recent months as lower-income households sharply pulled back because of inflation.