September 23, 2026. Grocery mergers, government data, and where Amazon is spending $23/hr. Let’s go.
🧱 The Big Story
Kroger is closing ~60 stores and cutting ~1,000 corporate jobs — all because a merger didn’t happen.
After the FTC blocked its $25 billion deal with Albertsons, Kroger is now left with an overstretched footprint and no merger synergies to offset it. The company announced the closures as part of a broader restructuring to refocus on higher-performing locations.
What this means for workers: Severance is being offered to affected corporate employees. Store-level workers in closing locations may have transfer options — but there’s no guarantee, and ~60 stores worth of people are navigating uncertainty right now.
What this means for job seekers: When a major retailer restructures post-acquisition collapse, the skills that transfer fastest are supply chain, inventory management, and retail operations leadership. Those skill sets migrate into logistics, distribution, and e-commerce operations — all still hiring.
📊 Stat of the Week
7.271 million — U.S. job openings in July 2026, up 89,000 from June.
That’s the latest from the Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS report. Hires stayed steady. Separations stayed low. The underlying demand for workers is still real — if you’re actively searching, the market hasn’t closed on you.
⚡ Quick Hits
FedEx WARN Watch: 4,135 logistics workers out across 17 states
FedEx filed 34 WARN Act notices as part of its “Network 2.0” consolidation — merging FedEx Express and FedEx Ground into a single unified system. The next batch of separations hits September 29. These are package handlers, dock workers, and operations staff. Non-tech, logistics-core, and happening now.
Fidelity flips the switch on 5-day in-office
Fidelity Investments made its full return-to-office policy official in September 2026 — 21,200 employees across Boston, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and New Mexico are now required in five days a week. Fidelity joins JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs in eliminating hybrid flexibility for financial services workers. The remote pipeline in this sector is narrowing fast.
Xbox cut 286 more jobs — and moved Halo to Activision
Microsoft cut 286 roles in September as part of a broader 3,200-person gaming restructuring. Studios are being spun off, development priorities are shifting, and Halo franchise development is now under Activision. The cuts hit design, QA, and project management. Microsoft is betting Activision’s catalog carries engagement while its first-party studio headcount contracts.
While the layoffs pile up, Amazon is hiring 250,000 seasonal workers at $23/hr
Average pay: $23/hr. Total compensation including benefits and overtime: up to $30/hr. Amazon is using this wave to staff fulfillment centers and delivery operations ahead of Q4. This isn’t a trend reversal — it’s seasonal hiring. But if you need income while the job search continues, Amazon is actively recruiting now.
🏢 Companies Hiring Remote
Shopify
Remote-first, global. Open roles in engineering, product, design, operations, and legal. Shopify went fully distributed in 2020 and has stayed that way — one of the few large-cap tech companies that hasn’t reversed course on remote.
Automattic
The company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, and Jetpack. 1,416 Automatticians working across 83 countries speaking 107 languages — fully distributed since day one. Roles in engineering, product, support, and operations.
Mozilla
The nonprofit behind Firefox and a suite of privacy-first products. Open roles in engineering, privacy research, policy, and product. Mission-driven work with a remote-friendly distributed culture.
Canonical
The company behind Ubuntu Linux. Fully distributed from the start — no offices, no HQ requirement. Hiring engineers, developer advocates, and operations staff globally.
HashiCorp
Infrastructure automation tooling — Terraform, Vault, Consul, Nomad. Now part of IBM’s portfolio following the 2024 acquisition. Remote-first engineering and product roles across the platform stack.
→ HashiCorp Open Positions (via IBM Careers)
📡 Career Signal
73% of employers are now using skills-based hiring — up from 56% in 2022.
That’s from SHRM’s 2026 Talent Trends Report, which surveyed 2,094 HR professionals. Nearly 8 in 10 employers now say skills assessments are as important — or more important — than credentials when making hiring decisions. The gap between “what’s on your resume” and “what you can actually demonstrate” is closing fast. Employers are increasingly testing for capability before they check for a degree.
What this means for you: Your portfolio, certifications, and demonstrated project results are now doing more heavy lifting than your GPA. If you haven’t updated your skills evidence recently — GitHub, case studies, course completions — now is the time.
→ SHRM 2026 Talent Trends Report
📚 Skill-Building Reads
SHRM 2026 Talent Trends Report
The data behind the skills-based hiring shift — straight from SHRM, surveying nearly 2,100 HR professionals. Read it to understand what employers are actually measuring and what language to use when positioning yourself for roles. Free to access.
AI for Everyone — Andrew Ng (DeepLearning.AI)
Non-engineers: this one’s for you. Andrew Ng’s foundational AI literacy course covers what AI can and can’t do, how to work with AI teams, and how to identify real opportunities in your industry. No coding required. Free to audit — $49 for the certificate.
DOL TEAMS Salary Negotiation Participant Guide (Feb 2026)
A free government PDF covering negotiation prep, anchoring tactics, counter-offer strategy, and how to handle lowball offers. Originally written for veterans transitioning to civilian roles — but the negotiation playbook applies to anyone with an offer on the table. Published February 2026.
⚡ Quick Win
Add a “Selected Results” section to your resume — above your work history.
Pick 3 quantified achievements from your career. Format them like this:
- “Reduced onboarding time by 40% by redesigning training workflow across 3 teams”
- “Managed $2.1M vendor contract portfolio with 98% on-time renewal rate”
- “Grew organic traffic 3× in 8 months through content restructuring and technical SEO”
Hiring managers average 7 seconds on a first resume pass. A results section at the top means your strongest proof points land before they scroll. Don’t make them hunt for evidence — put it first.
🎯 Bottom Line
Kroger’s retreat is a reminder: when big deals collapse, the workers closest to the integration get caught in the fallout. But the data keeps saying the same thing — 7.2 million job openings is not a closed market. Know the skills employers are testing for, make your results visible up top, and keep the search methodical.
Back next week.
— The RemoteHunter Team