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Powell on the Gen Z hiring nightmare: ‘Kids coming out of college … are having a hard time’

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has sounded the alarm on what many recent graduates already know—getting a job right out of college is really hard right now. Speaking at his regular press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell called it “an interesting labor market.” He said people “kids coming out of college and younger people, minorities, are having a hard time finding jobs.” Overall, the “job finding rate” is very low, Powell said, but then again, so is the layoff rate. “So you’ve got a low firing, low hiring environment.”

Recent labor reports indicate that, indeed, it’s hard out there. The Black unemployment rate climbed above 7% in August, while the rate for recent graduates has surged above the overall rate for the first time in recent history. Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Slok, famous on Wall Street for being first to notice a wrinkle in the data, noted that it’s actually falling for recent graduates who are female and rising for recent graduates who are men. More generally, Slok also noted shortly ahead of the FOMC meeting that America has more unemployed people than job openings: 7.4 million to 7.2 million.

The last few months of 2025, called “the summer AI turned ugly” by Deutsche Bank, were full of anecdotal evidence that AI adoption is not going smoothly at the corporate level, on the one hand, and that it’s destroying entry-level hiring, on the other.

Powell himself has previously weighed in on the AI jobs debate, which saw predictions of a 50% wipeout of white-collar jobs and a fourth industrial revolution creating a bounty of new positions, by staking out a middle position. “There’s certainly a possibility that, at least in the beginning, AI will replace a lot of jobs, rather than just augmenting people’s labor,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee in late June. “In the long run, AI may raise productivity and lead to greater employment. But it is a transformational technology, with effects that are unknowable.”

On Wednesday, Powell refused to be drawn on this specifically, saying “there’s great uncertainty” around the question of AI’s impact on the labor market. “I think, my view, which is also a bit of a guess, but widely shared, I think, is that you are seeing some effects, but it’s not the main, not the main thing driving it.” Still, regarding young people coming out of college, he said “there may be something there. It may be that companies or other institutions that have been hiring younger people right out of college are able to use AI that more than they had in the past. That may be part of the story.”

Powell sought to focus reporters’ minds, saying that the economy has simply slowed down and job creation has broadly slowed down with it. AI is “probably a factor,” he added. “Hard to say how big it is.”

Long-term consequences

The plight of Gen Z and minority jobseekers could reverberate well into the future, with ramifications not just for individual households but for the broader U.S. economy. Research shows that entering the job market during an economic slump can lower lifetime earnings, delay homeownership, and hamper wealth building, particularly for those already facing systemic barriers.

Academics have been studying the “scarring effects,” or labor market “hysteresis,” that result from economic downturns for decades. Harvard professor David Ellwood introduced the language of “permanent scars” in 1982, and Olivier Blanchard and Larry Summers advanced the research in a groundbreaking 1986 paper, arguing that unemployment, particularly following a recession, can have a major impact on someone’s career for many years to come. Adam Posen, President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast in August that economics have looked hard for hysteresis since the Great Recession of 2008 but have not found it.

David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Alex Bryson of University College London have found something curious: youth wages and unemployment have not suffered dramatically since the 2010s, but they see an unmistakable rise in “despair” among young workers, stretching out over the past decade. Blanchflower told Fortune earlier this month that he thinks it can be summed up in an attitude of “this job sucks.” Now to that picture, you add something unmistakable: unemployment is going in the wrong direction.

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Hollywood reels from shocking Reiner murders as police weigh charges for their son

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Los Angeles police are set to present a case to prosecutors Tuesday following Nick Reiner’s arrest in the killings of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

Prosecutors are set to decide whether and how to charge 32-year-old Nick Reiner, who is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and ”The Princess Bride” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Representatives for the Reiner family did not respond to requests for comment, and it wasn’t clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Police haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings.

Investigators believe Rob and Michelle Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family. Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner’s 1990 film “Misery,” was among those paying tribute to the couple.

“I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

“Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner,” he said in a statement. “They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.”

Three months ago, Nick Reiner was photographed with his parents and siblings at the premiere of his father’s film “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.”

He had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored — and seemed to improve — their relationship through the making of the 2016 film, “Being Charlie.”

Nick Reiner co-wrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’”

Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Few Good Men.”

He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of “When Harry Met Sally…,” and their meeting would inspire the film’s shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner’s closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year’s Eve.

The Reiners were outspoken advocates for liberal causes and major Democratic donors.

President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

___

Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.



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Valerie Health raises $30 million Series A to scale “AI front offices” for physicians

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The intersection of AI and healthcare has been getting massive attention from investors—and rightfully so, says Peter Shalek. 

“I think this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment,” said Shalek, cofounder and CEO of Valerie Health. “Software, at its best, takes complexity away from the end user that benefits their customers. It creates new experiences, and that hasn’t happened in the last 30 years… Over the next ten years, the experience of going to the doctor will change.” 

To meet the moment, Shalek—who co-founded digital mental health startup Joyable, which was sold to AbleTo—teamed up with Nitin Joshi, cofounder of Uber Health and Stripe engineering leader to start Valerie Health in 2023. Valerie, Shalek says, is “an AI front office” for independent doctors’ offices. 

“All the space that sits between the patient and provider, we’re taking that over and automating as much as possible,” Shalek said. “We automate referrals, we automate faxes, we automate scheduling. But over time, we’re building out a comprehensive platform that can really manage the entire workflow from front to back.”

Valerie Health—named with Shalek and Joshi’s children’s initials—has raised its $30 million Series A, led by Redpoint Ventures, Fortune has exclusively learned. General Catalyst, Primary Ventures, BoxGroup, and Karman Ventures participated in the round, along with 406 Ventures and Waybury Capital. Angels included executives from One Medical, Oscar, Main Street Health, and DoorDash. Valerie has now raised $39 million.  

“The future of healthcare is personalized and proactive,” said Meera Clark, partner at Redpoint Ventures. “Think about the ability to shift an appointment time or get that next appointment on the books—imagine a system has context to reach out to me and schedule based on my preferences, knows my healthcare needs, and knows my risk profile, what I might need to be screening for. You really need a foundation in place to be that proactive and personalized, and Valerie is laying that foundation.”

To Shalek, this isn’t just about a tech-enabled future, it’s the hope for better healthcare overall.

“We live in the U.S., with the best medical care in the world,” said Shalek. “We have incredible therapeutics, incredible diagnostics, incredible surgical capabilities—and yet, we have very mediocre average healthcare. The gap is about getting patients the right care that they need. It’s about democratizing healthcare, not just care for the healthiest and wealthiest people, which is too often what happens.”

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X:
@agarfinks
Email:alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Allie Garfinkle curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.Subscribe here.

Venture Deals

Link Cell Therapies, South San Francisco, Calif.-based oncology cell therapy company, launched from stealth with $60 million in Series A funding. Johnson & Johnson Innovation led the round, and was joined by Samsara BioCapital, Sheatree Capital, and Wing Venture Capital

AIR, an AI-powered credit intelligence startup, raised $6.1 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Work-Bench Ventures and Lerer Hippeau.

Auxira Health, Columbia, Md.-based virtual cardiology company, raised $7.8 million in seed funding. Route 66 Ventures and Abundant Venture Partners led the round, and were joined by DigiTx Partners, American Heart Association Ventures, Ensemble Innovation Ventures, and City Light Capital.

– Soverli, a Zurich, Switzerland-based smartphone cybersecurity company, raised $2.6 million in pre-seed funding. Founderful led the round and was joined by the ETH Zurich Foundation and Venture Kick.

Private Equity

Godspeed Capital agreed to make a strategic investment in NextPoint Group, a Herndon, Va-based technology solutions provider for the intelligence and defense communities. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

IPOs

Wealthfront, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based financial platform, is going public today with an offering of 34.6 million shares priced at $14 a share. 

Funds + Funds of Funds

Lightspeed Venture Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based multi-stage venture capital firm, raised $9 billion in capital across six vehicles. 

Dragoneer Investment Group, a San Francisco-based investment firm, raised $4.3 billion for its seventh venture capital fund. 

Exits

Freshworks agreed to acquire FireHydrant, a New York-based AI-enabled incident management startup. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

NVIDIA agreed to acquire SchedMD, a Lehi, Utah-based developer of open-source workload management system Slurm.

Fortune AIQ: The year in AI–and what’s ahead

Businesses took big steps forward on the AI journey in 2025, from hiring Chief AI Officers to experimenting with AI agents. The lessons learned—both good and bad–combined with the technology’s latest innovations will make 2026 another decisive year. Explore all of Fortune AIQ, and read the latest playbook below: 

The 3 trends that dominated companies’ AI rollouts in 2025.

2025 was the year of agentic AI. How did we do?

AI coding tools exploded in 2025. The first security exploits show what could go wrong.

The big AI New Year’s resolution for businesses in 2026: ROI.

Businesses face a confusing patchwork of AI policy and rules. Is clarity on the horizon?



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America’s $38 trillion national debt will exacerbate generational imbalance, says think tank

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The United States’ current borrowing trajectory will place an “undue burden on future generations,” an economic think tank has warned, with younger generations facing a higher interest rate environment, slower economic growth, and stalling wage increases.

The latest research from the American Action Forum chimes with concerns across both the public and private sectors. Everyone from JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon to Fed chairman Jerome Powell is nervously eyeing the nation’s $38 trillion debt burden. The government has paid $10 billion a week to service the debt for the first few months of the 2026 fiscal year.

Economists are concerned that, at some point, the growth of the American economy will become so disconnected from the borrowing of its government that bond buyers will demand higher premiums on their loans. The worry is that the central bank will intervene by increasing the money supply—kick-starting an inflationary cycle—but that ultimately the government may have to cut back on spending.

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has described this scenario as an economic “heart attack,” with government investment squeezed out by the need for the country to maintain its debt obligations.

Younger people will face the sharpest end of that outcome, warned Jordan Haring, director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum. Haring, formerly a senior policy analyst at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) wrote in a note this week: “The United States’ high debt load exacerbates generational imbalances. These imbalances will ultimately burden younger and future generations with higher interest payments, slower economic growth, slower income growth, and a greater burden to bear for future tax or spending changes.”

She continued: “Without significant policy changes to reduce debt growth, future generations will inherit a budget where significant resources are locked into servicing past borrowing.”

“As interest costs rise, the federal government will have less money available for education, infrastructure, or scientific research—areas that directly support long-term prosperity. Future taxpayers will face higher tax burdens or reduced government services simply to cover the costs created by previous budget deficits.”

Haring pointed to the discrepancies in budgets between education and health services, for example. Already the gap is large: In 2025, the Department for Education requested $82.4 billion for its budget, while in 2024 Medicaid spending totalled more than $900 billion, per the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission.

With an ageing population, it is likely that spending on social care will increase over the coming decades. Lower birth rates will mean fewer entrants into the ranks of the economically active to maintain the revenues gathered by the government.

While the accuracy of the conservative think tank’s research has been criticised in the past, Haring’s stance has been echoed by the likes of BlackRock’s Larry Fink.

Last year, Fink urged corporate leaders and politicians to pursue “an organized, high-level effort” to rethink the retirement system. In a letter to BlackRock investors, Fink wrote: “The federal government has prioritized maintaining entitlement benefits for people my age (I’m 71) even though it might mean that Social Security will struggle to meet its full obligations when younger workers retire.”

He added: “It’s no wonder younger generations, Millennials and Gen Z, are so economically anxious. They believe my generation—the baby boomers—have focused on their own financial well-being to the detriment of who comes next. And in the case of retirement, they’re right.”

The Great Wealth Transfer option

With a shift in economic activity from one generation to the next also comes with new flows of wealth, and this is something governments around the world will be looking to leverage, according to experts.

Studies have found that over the next 20 to 30 years as much as $124 trillion will be passed down from older generations to their younger counterparts, though UBS puts the figure of the “Great Wealth Transfer” at $80 trillion. Baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—are the wealthiest generation in history, and as these individuals begin passing on their assets, sums will go immediately to their Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z successors, and some cash will go to spouses.

“The change in wealth comes at a time when many governments around the world have high debt and deficits. It seems unrealistic to suppose that governments will just sit idly by as this wealth moves around. We would expect governments to attempt to mobilize that wealth to help fund their debt, but in doing so that denies private sector investment access to some of those funds.”



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