The June 2026 GovAI brief by Suchet Mittal and Sam Manning reviews six bipartisan bills introduced between March 2025 and March 2026 that target AI-driven labor market shifts, clustering them around two priorities: collecting fresh data on layoffs, hiring, and retraining, plus funding pilots for workforce adaptation.
Markus Anderljung#1981
1/ Congress is starting to take AI’s labor-market impacts seriously. Over the past year, lawmakers in both parties have introduced bills aimed at understanding how AI is changing work and preparing workers for the disruption that may follow. In a new @GovAIOrg policy brief, @sj_manning and I analyze recently proposed bills.
One measure, the Clarity Act, would force certain companies and agencies to disclose AI-linked job changes to the Labor Department each quarter, with the agency then publishing aggregated findings.
The brief frames these proposals as initial moves and explicitly flags open questions about real-world impact plus areas future legislation might still need to tackle.
New policy brief out analyzing recently introduced bills that aim to address AI's labor impacts.
These are early entries in a policy conversation that will evolve rapidly in the coming months. If you want to understand what has been formally proposed to date, give this a read.
1/ Congress is starting to take AI’s labor-market impacts seriously. Over the past year, lawmakers in both parties have introduced bills aimed at understanding how AI is changing work and preparing workers for the disruption that may follow. In a new @GovAIOrg policy brief, @sj_manning and I analyze recently proposed bills.
@suchet_mittaI Read the full brief here: https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/how-congress-is-approaching-ais-labor-market-impacts
3/ We reviewed six proposals from 2025 and 2026 focused on AI and the workforce: - AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act - Workforce of the Future Act - AI Workforce PREPARE Act - AI Workforce Training Act - Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act - Economy of the Future Commission Act
11/ These bills are still early steps in what will likely be a growing policy debate. Future AI x labor policy could focus on four things: filling the remaining gaps in visibility on AI’s effects on work improving existing worker support systems as a first line of defence designing flexible policies that can be adjusted as impacts become clearer planning for the possibility of highly disruptive scenarios
4/ - AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act: Mandates large employers to report AI-related layoffs, hiring, hiring freezes, and retraining; - Workforce of the Future Act: Funds AI-related education and worker training while requiring federal reports on AI’s workforce impacts;
2/ You can read the full analysis here: https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/how-congress-is-approaching-ais-labor-market-impacts
10/ The broader policy challenge is two-sided. Overreacting to speculative fears of mass displacement could waste resources. But underpreparing could leave workers without support if AI causes faster or broader disruption than expected.
9/ But the effectiveness of these bills remains uncertain: Will the attempts at improving visibility gather all the needed data to understand AI’s impacts? Can the bills’ measurement requirements be carried out reliably? E.g. Can firms accurately say whether a layoff was “because of AI” or which workers are likely to be displaced by AI? Can the proposed training and worker-support initiatives be scaled quickly enough if AI’s impacts are unprecedentedly fast or severe?
6/ - Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act: Funds retraining pilots for workers affected by automation and expands WIOA through additional funding for the National Dislocated Worker Grant; - The Economy of the Future Commission Act: Creates a bipartisan commission modelled on Cyberspace Solarium Commission, to recommend AI and labor plus broader AI-economy legislation.
7/ Across these bills, two priorities stand out. First: better data. Lawmakers want more visibility into where AI is being adopted, which jobs are being affected, whether workers are being displaced, and how skill demands are changing. Second: worker training. Several bills fund, incentivize, or evaluate training programs meant to help workers adjust to changing skill demands. That includes grants, pilots, and employer tax credits.
8/ These are sensible starting points. Policymakers don’t yet know whether AI’s labor market effects will be modest, sector-specific, or highly disruptive. So it makes sense to begin with measurement, experimentation, and evaluation.
5/ - AI Workforce PREPARE Act: Aims to build federal capacity to measure, forecast, and respond to AI’s labor impacts through a variety of different policy tools; - AI Workforce Training Act: Creates an employer tax credit for AI training expenses;
12/ Read the full brief here for a summary of each bill and an analysis of open questions regarding their effectiveness. https://www.governance.ai/research-paper/how-congress-is-approaching-ais-labor-market-impacts
The June 2026 GovAI brief by Suchet Mittal and Sam Manning reviews six bipartisan bills introduced between March 2025 and March 2026 that target AI-driven labor market shifts, clustering them around two priorities: collecting fresh data on layoffs, hiring, and retraining, plus funding pilots for workforce adaptation.
Markus Anderljung#19811/ Congress is starting to take AI’s labor-market impacts seriously. Over the past year, lawmakers in both parties have introduced bills aimed at understanding how AI is changing work and preparing workers for the disruption that may follow. In a new @GovAIOrg policy brief, @sj_manning and I analyze recently proposed bills.
