💼 Longest US Govt Shutdown Affects Workforce. US Healthcare at Lowest Capacity. AI Assists Small Business Tasks.
Chart of the Day #475 looks at US Agencies During the Government Shutdown, the US Healthcare Sector During the Shutdown, and AI Applications in Small US Businesses.
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Wisconsin to offer funding in effort to boost health workforce training. AD Ports charts the Human-AI Workforce Revolution. OAGI and NIIMBL release biopharmaceutical manufacturing ontologies to boost interoperability and analytics. Telangana partners with 1M1B to launch India’s first Youth Climate Action and Innovation Centre.
Pakistan invests in semiconductor workforce development. The Ballmer Group Philanthropy pledges around $1B to expand early-education access for low-income families in Washington state. The UK and Australia are deepening education partnerships with Southeast Asia.
Today's Topics
💼 Workforce. Longest US govt shutdown recorded the highest furloughs in history
⚕️ Health Skills. US healthcare near minimum working capacity during govt shutdown
🤖 Artificial Intelligence. AI use in consumer facing applications by small businesses
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💼 Longest US Govt Shutdown Recorded the Highest Furloughs in History
The 2025 government shutdown ended on November 12th after 43 days, the longest in US history, when President Trump signed funding through January 30. The shutdown stemmed from conflicts over Trump's $9B rescissions bill, DOGE budget cuts, and expired ACA subsidies. Core agencies saw 40-89% furloughs EPA (89%), Education (87%), NASA (83%) with around 1.4M workers missing two paychecks. The bill reversed layoffs, guaranteed backpay, and fully funded SNAP for 42M beneficiaries.
⚕️ US Healthcare Near Minimum Working Capacity During Govt Shutdown
NIH furloughed 75% of staff during the 2025 shutdown, with CDC at 65% and CMS at 47%. Patient impacts included NIH suspending new clinical trial admissions, research pauses, delayed grants, and Medicare telehealth flexibilities expiring. Beyond the shutdown, the Trump administration further restructured HHS through DOGE, cutting 20,000 jobs, including 3,500 FDA, 2,400 CDC, and 1,200 NIH positions, and consolidating 28 divisions into 15, and creating the Administration for a Healthy America. Healthcare services are expected to return to normal capacity upon the end of the 43 day shutdown.
🤖 AI Use in Consumer Facing Applications by Small Businesses
Content creation dominates AI usage at 52%, with social media management (39%) and chatbots (34%) following closely. This trend reflects businesses prioritizing customer-facing applications over backend operations like lead management (22%). Small businesses are rapidly embracing AI, with two-thirds already implementing the technology. Marketing teams particularly favor AI for content generation, with data suggesting they save nearly 3 hours per content due to AI. However, copyright concerns around AI-generated content remain unresolved as businesses navigate ownership questions.
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