The Latest – Government Shutdown, Surging CEO Pay, Elon Musk, Disappearing DEI, H-1B visa changes, Workforce Reductions
In the wake of Congress’ inability to agree on a federal budget, the U.S. government shut down on Oct. 1. Besides furloughing hundreds of thousands of government workers and suspending important federal tasks, the timing of the shutdown means the Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release its monthly jobs report on Oct. 3.
The scheduled Oct. 15 U.S. Consumer Price Index report, which tracks general inflation, is also in doubt, depending on the length of the shutdown.
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, told the New York Times, “It pains me that we wouldn’t be getting official statistics at exactly a moment when we’re trying to figure out is the economy in transition.”
On Sept. 25, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) think tank released updated numbers for CEO pay in the U.S. Among its findings:
- After two uncharacteristic years of decline in 2022 and 2023, CEO pay surged in 2024 and remains massive compared to the salaries of other workers.
- Average realized CEO compensation (including stock awards and options) at the top 350 U.S. firms was $22.98 million in 2024, a 5.9% increase from 2023.
- From 1978–2024, top CEO compensation rose 1,094%, compared to a 26% increase in a typical worker’s compensation. In 2024, CEOs were paid 281 times as much as a typical worker.
- In 2023 (the last year this data is available), CEOs received 7.5 times as much pay as the top 0.1% of workers. According to EPI, “This suggests that CEOs are not paid extraordinary amounts because of any special skills or greater productivity, but because they have extraordinary leverage over corporate boards that set their pay.”
Last month, Tesla’s board of directors proposed a vote to potentially make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. The proposed plan, on which board members will vote on Nov. 6, will award Musk with a pay package worth approximately $975 billion. That would be added to Musk’s current net worth of $400 billion.
The pay package would be contingent on Musk raising Tesla’s stock market value to $8.5 trillion from its current value of $1.1 trillion.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many U.S. companies created or expanded their DEI teams. But merely four years later, these companies began reducing the size of those teams or even eliminating them altogether. According to Revelio Labs, a research firm that produces workforce analytics, at the start of 2017, there were approximately 6,000 DEI roles in corporate America. New research from Revelio released in September finds that number peaked at nearly 13,000 positions in 2022, before falling to approximately 11,000 positions in August 2025.
Nevertheless, Revelio found correlations between companies that have DEI teams and the diversity of those companies. “Companies with dedicated DEI teams consistently hire a higher share of Asian, Black, and Hispanic employees than those without,” according to Revelio. “This indicates that DEI professionals play a pivotal role in diversifying talent pipelines through targeted outreach and more inclusive hiring practices.”
Revelio also found that employees at companies with DEI teams are more satisfied at their jobs, particularly in relation to workplace diversity and inclusion.
Commenting on the state of DEI under the Trump administration, Revelio noted that dismantling diversity programs across the country has become a top U.S. policy priority. Revelio reported that the DEI professionals that have been let go are generally unable to find similar roles. “Fifty-five percent of DEI workers leaving these roles moved into non-DEI positions at new organizations, while 38% remained at the same company but transitioned into different functions,” the company noted. “Only a small minority found new DEI jobs elsewhere.”
President Trump’s administration has been making significant changes to the U.S. H-1B work visa program that is grabbing headlines and unsettling employers. Here’s what you should know.
What are H-1B visas?
The U.S. created the H-1B visa program in 1990 to supplement the specialized knowledge companies in the U.S. require to remain competitive worldwide.
According to the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) website, “The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations.” The DOL defines specialty occupations as, “ones that requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.”
Who uses these visas?
H-1B visas were established to help employers obtain skills and abilities for which there is more demand than supply in the U.S. These visas are most often used for workers with advanced degrees in IT operations. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple are among the most frequent users of the H-1B visa.
How many H-1B visas are available?
The number of new H-1B visas issued each year is capped at 85,000. However, the number of visas granted annually (400,000 in fiscal year 2024) is typically much higher, since most are renewal applications. These temporary visas are renewable for up to six years and may be extended beyond that under some conditions.
Some specific sectors of the economy—such as select nonprofits and education and research institutions that rely on foreign employees—are exempt from the H1-B requirement.
How is the program changing under Trump?
As the Trump administration seeks to significantly curb immigration, it is making it more difficult for employers to obtain H1-B visas, alleging that the program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”
The U.S. government announced on Sept. 19 that it will now require a $100,000 payment from employers who petition for an H-1B visa for a foreign worker “to protect American workers.” This has left companies scrambling to assess how the new regulation will impact them.
On Sept. 23, the Trump administration followed up by issuing a proposed rule in which the lottery process that has historically determined the allocation of H-1B visas will be replaced with “a weighted selection process that would generally favor the allocation of H-1B visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens.”
How does this affect HR?
HR professionals working in companies that rely on H-1B visas to meet their talent needs should keep current with the rapid changes the Trump administration is making to the longstanding program. For example, the proposed rule for implementing a weighted selection process outlines a four-tier scale that the government will use to sort H-1B applications. Since the final details of this change are TBD, HR must keep up to date so as not to miss new regulations or filing changes.
To up the ante, the DOL has also announced that the agency will initiate on-site visits and compliance investigations to ensure adherence to the new regulations. The administration is threatening companies found in noncompliance with fines and disbarment from the H-1B program.
A recently released survey conducted by Resume.org of 1,000 U.S. business leaders about their workforce planning found that 6 in 10 employers intend to lay off workers in 2026. The reasons for reducing their workforces cited by survey respondents include exercising caution in an uncertain economy, evolving trade policies, and expected growth in AI.
Additional findings include:
- 41% of companies have cut back on hiring, and 10% have recently implemented a hiring freeze.
- 4 in 10 companies have laid off employees in 2025.
- 1 in 3 companies plan to lay off workers before the end of the year.
- 4 in 10 companies plan to replace workers with AI by 2026.
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The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.
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Published On: May 14, 2025
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