Bipartisan Senators Push Bill to Collect Better Data on AI's Workforce Impacts

NewsData.io · United States · Jul 30, 2026

Senators Jim Banks (R-IN) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) are backing the AI Workforce PREPARE Act, which would add AI-related questions to federal labor surveys, establish an AI Workforce Research Hub at the Labor Department, and require employers to disclose if AI was a factor in mass layoffs. Expert testimony at a Senate HELP subcommittee hearing largely downplayed mass unemployment fears, instead highlighting risks to career pathways and mid-level roles as AI automates tasks that workers traditionally use to build skills. For staffing firms, the proposed layoff disclosure requirement and potential shifts in occupational demand data are worth monitoring. Early evidence, per experts, points to slower hiring in AI-exposed fields rather than broad job loss.