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29 posts by Tony Buffum.
Tony BuffumShowing 29 posts
We called the shift from headcount to capabilities, and the data keeps agreeing. August payrolls tripled the forecast and July was revised from -23,000 to +21,000. Services output hit its fastest pace since February while services employment contracted. Where the demand is actually landing, and what it means for how you build your workforce.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readPrivate employers added 38,000 jobs in August, the slowest month since January, while layoffs fell to a six-month low. Jobs are not growing, but the work is: Porsche just committed $1.5 billion to people who can make its AI investment work, and DHS proposed a $103,265 fee on new H-1B petitions. Plus: join the annual flexible workforce study with Independently, and dinner at CWS Dallas.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readUS business activity grew at its fastest pace since 2022 the same week JPMorgan layoffs hit an 11-year high. Growth and cuts now run in the same building, and the flexible workforce is where they get reconciled. Plus two ways to sit down with Tony in Dallas at CWS.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readUS payrolls fell 23,000 in July and the labor force shrank by 264,000. Inflation outran pay growth again. Meanwhile the share of skilled knowledge workers who freelance jumped from 28% to 38% in a single year.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readUS payrolls added 44,000 jobs in July, the weakest gain in six months, while US staffing hours hit new highs for the year. Both are true, and the gap between them is the story.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readDemand for the most AI-exposed roles fell 42%, yet the companies actually adopting AI grew headcount 27% more than the ones that didn't. What that means before you freeze a req.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readJobless claims hit their lowest level since 1969, Ford rehired the engineers AI replaced, and the $100K H-1B fee survived another challenge. Tony Buffum on why unpredictable policy is the strongest argument for a flexible talent layer.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readTony Buffum on the split-screen labor market - contingent hours surging while permanent hiring slows, SIA formalizing digital labor as a provider category, and Thomson Reuters restructuring workforce composition around AI.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readThe ILO's first Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy is bigger than a gig-work story. The marketplace of the future is not just a matching engine, it is a governance layer, and trust is the next competitive advantage.
Tony Buffum· 5 min readJeremy Lyons explains why most TA teams fail at AI adoption by skipping the ethics layer and jumping straight to tools, and what the best companies do instead
Tony Buffum· 5 min readRich Wilson and Davie Gow explain the 40-40-20 workforce model and how Arnold Clark built a blended talent program from scratch
Tony Buffum· 5 min readSnap cut 1,000 roles. Disney eliminated entire marketing divisions. Marketing just surged to #1 on Human Cloud alongside a 133% increase in creative and design. Plus new categories appearing for the first time.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readRevolut just launched an EOR. Disney just cut 1,000 marketers. The flexible workforce stopped being a trend. Now it is infrastructure.
Tony Buffum· 6 mina16z data shows top companies generating $700K ARR per employee - up 2x since 2018. The old benchmark of $200K is now the median. Here is what that means for how companies build teams.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readFoxHire's Multi-State Hiring Compliance Burden Index reveals that 50% of employers reject qualified candidates due to state compliance concerns. We break down what the data means for workforce strategy.
Tony Buffum· 4 min readKim Lee explains why most leadership workshops fail within weeks — and how she built an AI coaching app to make management development actually stick
Tony Buffum· 5 min readPaul Vallee explains why data enclaves and zero trust architecture remove the #1 barrier to enterprise freelancer adoption -- and why new compliance rules make it urgent
Tony Buffum· 5 min readStatement of Work spend is the largest unmanaged category in most enterprise workforce budgets. Here is why SOW management matters, what companies get wrong, and how to fix it.
Tony Buffum· 11 min read92% of companies plan to hire in 2026, but 55% also expect layoffs. This week's full breakdown: industry intel, platform data, trending solutions, and the AI productivity gap.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readJanuary 2026 showed resilience with 130K jobs added, but revised 2025 data reveals one of the weakest years for job creation outside recessions. Here's what it means for flexible talent.
Tony Buffum· 6 min readThe Trump administration’s proposal to raise H-1B visa fees to $100,000 will reshape workforce planning in tech and beyond. The U.S. may see fewer arrivals, but the expansion and adoption of distributed work models and the ecosystem that supports Talent Access strategies will grow.
Tony Buffum· 4 min readThe Fed’s recent rate cut is more than just a monetary policy adjustment; it’s a signal that the labor market is cooling and companies are being forced to rethink their workforce strategies. For the flexible talent industry, this moment is both a test and an opportunity. Demand may soften at the edg
Tony Buffum· 2 min readThe Fed's rate cut signals labor market weakness—here's what it means for flexible talent.
Tony Buffum· 8 min readAt last week’s CollaborationX Conference in Dallas, Human Cloud brought 26 executives together for an intimate dinner sponsored by greenlight.ai. Between the wine and conversation, the evening highlighted some of the most pressing topics shaping our industry: rising demand for flexible talent, the r
Tony Buffum· 3 min readBig News at the Intersection of HR Tech and Talent: Workday Acquires Paradox: A Strategic Leap in Agentic AI for Recruiting. Check out Tony’s full analysis of what this means for the Flexible Talent Future.
Tony Buffum· 3 min readBeeline and Human Cloud are partnering to combine Beeline’s enterprise technology with Human Cloud’s expertise in flexible talent solutions to help organizations make Talent Access more strategic, scalable, and compliant.
Tony Buffum· 3 min readOn August 19, 2025, Upwork Inc. unveiled Lifted, a wholly owned subsidiary aimed at servicing enterprise customers with a comprehensive suite of contingent workforce solutions. This signals a strategic shift from selling enterprise offerings within its broader marketplace to segregating them into a
Tony Buffum· 4 min read