Labor Department taps tech giants for AI jobs data
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Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling speaks at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches on Tuesday. Photo: Tracey Benson/Tracey Benson Photography
The Trump administration has struck data-sharing deals with major technology firms to help track how AI is affecting jobs and hiring, acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling told Axios.
Why it matters: AI could reshape the labor market faster than traditional government statistics can capture it. That could make it difficult for economic policymakers to see major shifts in jobs and hiring in real time.
What they're saying: Sonderling named OpenAI, Google, Meta and Amazon as among the companies sharing data with the department to better understand how businesses are using AI and where they expect adoption to go.
- "The bottom line is — and I've been open about this — the government does not have the data," Sonderling told Axios at an event hosted by the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.
- The department has signed memorandums of understanding with "a lot of these tech companies," Sonderling said.
- "Who has the data? The large tech companies and the large Fortune 500 companies who are really going to be the most impacted by this," he said.
The intrigue: The stakes go well beyond the Labor Department.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency within the department, collects and releases the market-moving jobs and inflation data that the Federal Reserve relies on to help set interest rates.
- Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh has raised questions about whether traditional government statistics can keep pace with a changing economy. Warsh launched a task force this summer to explore new data sources that could give policymakers a more real-time read.
- BLS has been plagued by plummeting response rates to its surveys, leaving the agency with a less precise read on changes in the labor market.
- "For the Fed to be able to determine the best interest rates — whether to raise it or lower it — they need accurate data from BLS," Sonderling said.
Zoom in: The private sector data would supplement traditional government statistics, giving BLS more information about how companies are adopting AI and what that could mean for workers.
- Sonderling said the findings will be made public.
The big picture: Sonderling shares the broader Trump administration's skepticism that AI is poised to cause widespread job losses.
- "I think you're going to see more augmentation in jobs. You're going to see new jobs being created," Sonderling said.
- The administration is betting heavily on apprenticeships to prepare workers for that shift. Sonderling said there are now 530,000 active registered apprentices, putting the administration about halfway toward Trump's apprenticeship goal.
What to watch: Sonderling acknowledged that BLS faces a credibility problem.
- "A lot of people don't trust BLS anymore," he said, pointing to a large downward revision released after the 2024 election that showed Biden-era job growth was weaker than initially reported.
- The revision "really hurt the credibility" of the agency, he said.
- "I've made a commitment to reform that and be much more transparent on how some of these revisions and job data are done," Sonderling said.
The other side: Trump raised a different set of concerns about BLS credibility when he fired commissioner Erika McEntarfer last summer, accusing her without evidence of rigging the data.
- The firing prompted economists across the political spectrum to warn that political interference could undermine confidence in BLS data.
- The Senate confirmed longtime BLS economist Brett Matsumoto as commissioner earlier this month. He told senators that the public needs to know the agency's decisions are "being driven by science rather than politics."
