Looking at the economic data for Q3 2025, on the surface everything seems glorious. GDP year-over-year growth hits 4.3%, a two-year high; corporate profit margins reach historic peaks; the stock market continues its upward trend. When these indicators are presented, anyone looking at them would say "The economy is recovering."

But the strange part is coming.

According to the old economic playbook, the logical chain should be: companies make money → expand hiring → increase employee income → boost consumption → further drive growth. But now? This chain is completely broken at the "employment" link.

The unemployment rate jumps to 4.6%, employment growth has essentially stalled, and white-collar jobs have experienced their first structural contraction since last year. This is not caused by insufficient market demand, nor is it a crisis of business confidence. On the contrary, companies are now enjoying their highest profits and efficiency.

This is where the problem lies.

The previous path of technological progress was relatively clear—machines do physical labor, humans do work that requires brains. But AI is different. For the first time, AI has systematically replaced tasks that are fundamentally human brain work—decision-making, analysis, judgment. The current logic for companies is simple: I don't need more staff, I need fewer people, lower costs, and higher productivity.

This is not a cyclical fluctuation; it is a structural change. The economy is growing, but the mode of growth has changed—it no longer requires a large employed population to sustain it. This divide, perhaps, is more worth pondering than the GDP figures themselves.