Work is getting disrupted, not only by the application of artificial intelligence (AI) but by actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), labor shortages, lack of worker training facilities and what we have called the Chaos Economy, a coincidental presence of uncertainty, unpredictability, precarity and volatility. As a result, the workforce is becoming disengaged and frustrated. The resulting edgy workforce is joining unions, announcing more strikes and, because of the lack of available workers, forcing management to yield. Companies are laying off workers because, as they insist, AI will replace them, only to rehire their employees when AI proves incapable of doing all the work . . . yet. The risk of more and more layoffs – much-anticipated by AI advocates – could lead to a “layoff trap,” meaning too many people being fired and too few employees left with the wherewithall to buy all the things that the highly automated companies make. Government management will be needed to oversee the realities of labor shortage, worker training, immigration goals and layoff excesses.