As artificial intelligence and demographic changes reshape the U.S. job market, the nation’s largest private employer is trying to identify the skills its workers and the broader labor force might need for the future. Walmart is working with other corporations and workforce experts to develop and fill jobs that don't require a college degree. In an interview with The Associated Press, CEO Doug McMillon said he thinks a lot of Americans don't know they can get trained and make a good living as truck drivers and maintenance technicians. He also said he thinks artificial intelligence has the capacity to change every job and people should embrace AI tools instead of resist them.

Starbucks said Thursday it's closing hundreds of stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe and laying off 900 nonretail employees so it can focus resources on its turnaround plan. The Seattle coffee giant wouldn't say exactly how many stores it's closing. But the company expects to end its fiscal year this Sunday with 434 fewer stores in North America than it had at the end of June. Starbucks also said it's closing some stores in the U.K., Austria and Switzerland. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said company is closing stores that don't have a path to financial stability or have physical spaces that don't meet customers' expectations.

Starbucks workers are taking legal action against the coffee giant, saying it violated the law when it changed its dress code but refused to reimburse employees who had to buy new clothes. The employees are backed by the union organizing Starbucks’ workers. They filed class-action lawsuits in state court in Illinois and Colorado Wednesday, and complaints with California’s labor agency. Starbucks’ new dress code went into effect May 12. The company has said its dress code will create a sense of familiarity with customers and make stores more welcoming. But some employees say they had to spend more than $100 on new clothes.

Amazon says it’s investing $1 billion to raise wages and lower the cost of health care plans for its U.S. fulfillment and transportation workers. The Seattle-based company said Wednesday that the average pay is increasing to more than $23 per hour. Some of its most tenured employees will see an increase between $1.10 and $1.90 per hour and full-time employees, on average, will see their pay increase by $1,600 per year. Amazon also said it will lower the cost of its entry health care plan to $5 per week and $5 for co-pays, starting next year. Amazon said that will reduce weekly contributions by 34% and co-pays by 87% for primary care, mental health and most non-specialist visits for employees using the basic plan.

In the days following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, numerous workers have been fired for their comments on his death, among them MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd. It’s not the first time workers have lost their jobs over social media posts. Laws can vary across states, but overall, there’s very little legal protections for employees who are punished for speech made both in and out of private workplaces. And the prevalence of social media has made it increasingly common to track employees’ conduct outside of work.

A federal judge is temporarily keeping measures in place to prevent the Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan migrant children in government custody. Judge Timothy J. Kelly's decision on Saturday stops the removal of children who came to the U.S. alone and are living in shelters and foster care. The decision follows a Labor Day weekend operation where the administration attempted to deport dozens of children. Immigration advocates sued, arguing the children were fleeing abuse or violence. Kelly's order extends protection until Sept. 16. The government initially claimed the parents requested their return but later backtracked.

An Arizona judge has extended a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s effort to remove Guatemalan and Honduran children living in shelters or foster care after coming to the U.S. alone. The judge issued the decision from the bench on Thursday. The administration was temporarily stopped from removing Guatemalan children over the Labor Day weekend. Lawyers for the children say their clients fear going home, and that the government is not following laws designed to protect migrant children. The Trump administration says it was trying to reunite the children with their families back home at the behest of the Guatemalan government.

U.S. Steel will stop processing steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in Illinois, three months after Nippon Steel sealed a deal with President Donald Trump to buy the iconic American steelmaker. In a statement, the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said Tuesday that it'll “optimize” its operations by focusing on processing raw steel at facilities in Pennsylvania and Indiana. It'll end its production work at Granite City Works, likely in November, but it says it'll keep paying the 800 workers there. They'll keep their jobs at least until 2027, as a result of a national security agreement between Trump and Nippon Steel that allowed its buyout of U.S. Steel to go forward.