The real jobs problem CEOs are talking about isn't hiring

(Credit: Getty Images)

• In today’s CEO Daily: CEOs face a talent crunch that cost-cutting can’t solve.
• The big leadership story: Tech leaders’ pay jumps.
• The markets: In the red globally as oil prices rise
• Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune .

Good morning. Happy post-Labor Day! This is the time of year when hiring is supposed to pick up, and Friday’s job report did show U.S. employers adding 162,000 jobs in August, 98% of which went to women. Much of the job growth was in lower-wage sectors like food service and home health care, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects total employment to grow only 3.5% between 2025 and 2035, down from the prior decade’s 10.9% rate. My conversations with CEOs about jobs elicit less optimism and more concerns about skills gaps, low engagement, the leadership pipeline, uncertainty about AI, and pressure to cut costs. Here’s what a few are doing about it.