March 2025: More Rippling Drama, Florida Loves Child Labor, AI Puzzles, and Free Stuff.
Hiya Job Board Doctor Friends — Q1 2025 is officially in the books and boy, oh boy, has it been a quarter. This week’s roundup includes: LinkedIn Dublin, minimum wage cuts, S&P’s downgraded economic outlook, a Flexiworld v. Indeed update, Florida loves child labor, a fun Reality Check, and a chance to win something free.
Let’s dive in.
LinkedIn Opens New Campus in Dublin
LinkedIn’s EMEA headquarters has been based in Dublin since 2010 and now employs 2,000 people — over 10% of its global workforce — making it the company’s largest office outside the U.S.
Praising the campus opening, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said:
“When we decided to put our EMEA headquarters in Dublin back in 2010, we started with three employees, and now we’re more than 2,000 strong. None of this would be possible without the support of the Irish government and the wider community. We’re excited to continue shaping a brighter future of work together.”
Go Irish. 🍀
Labor Market News
U.S. Government’s Hyper Focus on American Labor
President Trump issued Executive Order 14236 – Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, eliminating the $15/hour minimum wage for federal contractors established by President Biden in 2021 (EO 14026).
Also revoked were several labor-forward executive orders:
- EO 14081 – Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation (Sept 2022)
- EO 14126 – Investing in America and American Workers (Sept 2024)
- EO 14119 – Expanding Registered Apprenticeships and Promoting Labor Management Forums (March 2024)
- Presidential Memo – Advancing Worker Empowerment and High Labor Standards Globally (Nov 2023)
🔗 JD Supra Summary
🔗 Federal Register Official Doc
Indeed Hiring Lab: Surge in Federal Worker Job Applications
Applications from federal agency employees under Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) review surged 50% in February. Unsurprisingly, remote work is a priority — 3.2% of job searches included terms like “remote,” “work from home,” or “remote work from home.” Searches for horticulture and employee relations roles are 10x higher than last year, likely driven by displaced DEI professionals and USDA employees. These federal workers are highly educated — and now job hunting in a market that offers fewer opportunities aligned to their experience.
Meanwhile, in Florida
A Florida state Senate panel narrowly advanced a proposal to:
- Remove limits on 16- and 17-year-olds working before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on school days
- Remove caps on working over 8 hours on school days or more than 30 hours/week during school
- Eliminate required 30-minute meal breaks for 8-hour shifts
- Ease employment restrictions for 14- and 15-year-olds in homeschool or virtual school
A separate measure would allow teen interns or trainees to be paid below the $13/hour minimum wage — even though it’s set to rise to $15 next year.
Florida currently has just 53 available workers per 100 open jobs. Maybe they needed those migrants Governor DeSantis flew to NYC. The stunt cost the taxpayers a lot more than just money.
Smooth move, as always, Governor.
U.S. Economic Outlook
S&P Research Q2 2025: Slowing Down
According to S&P:
- GDP growth projected to slow to a 1.6% quarterly average for 2025
- Unemployment expected to peak at 4.6% by mid-2026
- Inflation likely to hover around 3.0%, fueled by tariffs
- One 25-basis-point rate cut expected, ending the year at 4.00%-4.25%
Consumer Confidence Skids to a Four Year Low:
The first line from the Reuters’ report says it all, “U.S. consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level in more than four years in March, with households fearing a recession in the future and higher inflation because of tariffs.”
In Other News
Rippling Co-Founder’s Divorce Goes Public and Off the Rails
This might not technically be talent acquisition news, but Rippling is in the headlines a lot lately so I am choosing to share. Co-founder Prasanna Sankar is reportedly on the run from Chennai authorities after allegedly trying to leave the country with his young son amid a messy, high-profile divorce. He’s taken to X (formerly Twitter) to share his side.
File this under: 😬
Indeed Asks Judge to Dismiss Flexiworld Patent Lawsuit
On March 19, Judge Alan D. Albright set the Flexiworld Technologies, Inc. v. Indeed, Inc. multi-patent infringement lawsuit to go forward to a jury trial on September 14, 2026. In addition, discovery must be submitted by May 22, 2026. Then on Friday, Indeed filed a Motion to Dismiss.
Oh to be an East Texas jury member….You can read the complaint and my original post on the lawsuit.
In the meantime, I will keep my Pacer Monitor account active and watching for updates.
🎧 LoNg Watch
2025 Outlook: Economic Uncertainty & Workforce Dynamics with Andrew Flowers, Appcast Chief Economist
George LaRocque’s WorkTech Podcast takes a 30-ish minute conversation with Appcast’s Flowers is definitely worth your long watch this week.
🎲 And the Winner Is… Maybe YOU?
If you’re a Director-level or above in HR or Talent Acquisition and thinking about heading to Unleash America in Vegas this May — you might be eligible for a complimentary pass.
Want in? For this week only (maybe more, if you act right) you can message my brilliant, beautiful, and very much like me (but WAY cooler) eldest child, Kennedy Cook, via DM on LinkedIn.
If you land a pass, let me know — we’ll get a Job Board Doctor x Unleash America “ussie” in May. Cheers!
🚨 Reality Check
This week’s fun and revealing Reality Check comes courtesy of The New York Times (gift link below):
In 2019, A.I. researcher François Chollet created a puzzle game called ARC — designed to be easy for humans, but tough for machines. It became a benchmark for tracking AI capabilities and debunking the idea AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is right around the corner.
Last June, Chollet partnered with Mike Knoop, co-founder of Zapier, to launch the ARC Prize — a $1 million competition to build an A.I. that could outperform humans on the newly branded ARC-AGI benchmark.
Over 1,400 A.I. systems were submitted. None scored above the 85% threshold, which marked the performance of a “smart” human.
Caveat: OpenAI’s o3 system hit 87.5%, but was disqualified after spending nearly $1.5 million in electricity and computing costs — blowing past the contest’s resource constraints.
You can solve some of the puzzles on ARC or the NYT. And, of course, I want to know how did you do?
Coming Up Next Week
We’ll dig into the state of tariffs and their projected impact — both on the global economy and the talent acquisition world we live in.
Until then,
The Doc has left the (Signal) chat.
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