I am starting to see so much consistency in the "it's not AI, it's overhiring" commentary that it's actually starting to feel like a narrative constructed to allay concerns about AI impacts. At this point it's a "pandemic overhire correction" that the industry has been doing for two years, and is accelerating.

Yea, I don't know how long they're planning to milk the "pandemic overhiring" excuse. Ten years? In 2030, we'll still be seeing headlines like "Company X lays off another 10,000 workers due to overhearing ten years ago..."