TNB Tech Minute: Tech Suffers in Otherwise Strong Jobs Report

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**Julie Chang** (0:24)
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Friday, September 4th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal. The information industry had the bleakest showing in an otherwise upbeat jobs report for August. According to the Labor Department, employment in the industry declined by 23,000 jobs that month, a big drop-up from the 8,000 job decline it was averaging over the prior 12 months. Computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services saw an 8,000 job decline by themselves in August.
Adobe stock is down over 5% this afternoon, after the software giant named the new CEO yesterday. Anil Chakravarty will take the reign starting in December. The previous CEO announced plans in March to step down after nearly two decades. Chakravarty has led Adobe's customer experience arm, and he led development of the generative AI platform GenStudio, as well as Adobe CX Enterprise, which uses AI agents to run marketing campaigns.
Finally, a shortage of memory chips due to AI is leading computer makers to sell fewer PCs at higher prices, and the strategy seems to be working. Worldwide PC shipments were down nearly 5% in the second quarter. That's according to International Data Core. The firm is projecting that PC prices will be up 20% this year and continue growing modestly in 2027, and that shipments will keep falling. So far, PC makers have found that enough businesses and consumers are buying the pricier computers to lift overall sales, including at HP, Dell, and Lenovo.
HP's PC revenue grew 18% in the second quarter, despite a 16% drop in unit sales. Similar gains were reported across the industry.
Heads up, we'll be off on Monday for Labor Day in the US, but back Tuesday with another episode of Tech News Briefing.