THE WHITE-COLLAR PURGE isn’t about “the future of work.” It’s about the quiet moment work stopped being safe. If you’re watching layoffs spread through “good jobs” while the workload somehow keeps getting done, you’re not imagining it. This isn’t a cycle. It’s a new staffing math—powered by AI systems that don’t just help humans, but replace layers of them. In this sharp, story-driven analysis, Frank Yu decodes what the tech leaders are really signaling, why AI power concentrates (agents, org charts, electricity), and why the next global race won’t be won by talent—but by infrastructure. Then the book turns to the question most AI books dodge: How does the middle class actually live through this—emotionally, economically, and structurally—without denial, panic, or fake hope? You’ll learn why re-skilling alone won’t save most professionals, what becomes scarce when output is infinite (judgment, trust, taste, authority), and how to rebuild leverage when your title no longer protects you. The purge isn’t the end of work. It’s the end of work as proof of worth.