While last year's labor market?was remarkably strong, the?tech industry was an exception.
After a massive hiring spree? 大規(guī)模的招聘狂潮 in the first two years?of the pandemic, industry giants like?Amazon?and?Metareversed course in 2022. There were at least 154,000?layoffs from more than 1,000 tech companies last year, according toLayoffs.fyi, a website that has been tracking tech layoffs since March 2020.
The website's tallies – which are likely an undercount?– have continued at a fast clip in 2023, with?more than 26,000 layoffs recorded so far this year.?
"The number of actual layoffs?is going to be much higher than what's on the site just because most layoffs don't get reported," Layoffs.fyi creator Roger Lee told USA TODAY. "Unfortunately, I don't see the layoffs going away anytime soon."
Which tech companies are doing layoffs?
Layoffs.fyi data shows the U.S. tech companies that trimmed the most jobs last year include:?
Meta: 11,000.??Amazon: 10,000.?Cisco: 4,100.?Carvana: 4,000.?Twitter: 3,700.
Are tech companies freezing hiring?
Job openings for tech jobs?dropped nearly 30%?from January to December of last year, while hires in the industry were down 23%, according to December data from talent acquisition company iCIMS.
Why are there so many layoffs right now?
Lockdowns had a major effect on consumer spending. Experiences like?travel or restaurants?were largely?off the table, so people began to shift their discretionary spending to?products from tech companies like Amazon and Peloton. But it didn't take long before?consumers started reverting back to their pre-pandemic spending patterns, according to?Rucha Vankudre, a senior economist at labor markets analytics firm Lightcast.?
"What we're seeing is really just sort of a renormalization," Vankudre said. "And that means that in many cases, these firms over-hired."
Higher interest rates also play a role in layoffs, according to Daniel Keum, an?associate professor of business at?Columbia Business School.?
"It's not that big techs are running short on cash, but they're making huge investments into risky new business areas. And these things have gotten a lot more expensive to fund. So they're pulling back 這并不是說(shuō)大型科技公司現(xiàn)金短缺，而是它們正在向高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的新業(yè)務(wù)領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行巨額投資。這些項(xiàng)目的資金也變得更加昂貴。所以他們?cè)诔吠?" Keum said.
Will tech layoffs continue in 2023?
“Honestly, in 2021, I had thought about taking the site down because I thought it had served its purpose,” Lee said. “I did not expect that, fast forward to 2022 to 2023, we would see another wave of layoffs.”
As of Wednesday, Layoffs.fyi has already tracked upward of 100 companies conducting more than 26,000 layoffs in 2023.
Major layoff announcements so far this year include:
Amazon: 8,000.? Salesforce: 8,000.? Coinbase: 950.
Microsoft on Wednesday also confirmed that it would be?reducing its workforce?by 10,000 people this year.
Lee has hope that job cuts in the industry will start subsiding by the end of the year if interest rate hikes slow down.?
Keum said tech layoffs will likely spread to small- and medium-sized tech companies this year as venture capitalists tighten their spending.?隨著風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資家收緊支出，今年科技公司裁員可能會(huì)蔓延到中小型科技公司。
"You will see sort of a gradual rippling out from the big tech to the broader tech industry.?The layoffs will become a little bit more widespread?你會(huì)看到從大型科技公司逐漸波及到更廣泛的科技行業(yè)。裁員會(huì)變得更廣泛一些," he said.??
Will layoffs spread to other industries in 2023?
While certain industries like tech and media have seen an influx of layoffs, the broader labor market has remained sturdy.
The U.S. economy added 4.5 million jobs last year, andthe unemployment rate in December?fell?from 3.7% to 3.5% to match a 50-year low.
"Across the economy, this is not a problem that we're seeing," Vankudre said. "This seems really pretty niche (for the tech industry) at the moment."
The tech industry has seen a string of layoffs in the face of uncertain economic conditions.?
面對(duì)不確定的經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢(shì)，科技行業(yè)出現(xiàn)了一系列裁員。
Microsoft and Amazon both announced fresh rounds of layoffs on Wednesday.?微軟和亞馬遜周三都宣布了新一輪裁員。
Layoffs come as digital advertisers are cutting back on spending and rising inflation curbs consumer spending.
The job cuts in tech land are piling up, as companies that led the 10-year bull market adapt to a new reality.
Microsoft?said Wednesday that it’s letting go of 10,000 employees, which will reduce the company’s headcount by less than 5%.?
微軟周三表示，將裁員1萬(wàn)人，這將使公司員工總數(shù)減少不到5%。
Amazon?also began a?fresh round of job cuts?that are expected to eliminate more than 18,000 employees and become the largest workforce reduction in the e-retailer’s 28-year history.?亞馬遜也開(kāi)始了新一輪裁員，預(yù)計(jì)裁員人數(shù)將超過(guò)1.8萬(wàn)人，成為這家電子零售商28年歷史上規(guī)模最大的一次裁員。
The layoffs come in a period of slowing growth, higher interest rates to battle inflation, and fears of a possible recession next year.?此次裁員正值經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)放緩、為對(duì)抗通脹而上調(diào)利率、以及人們擔(dān)心明年可能出現(xiàn)經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退之際。
The U.S. tech sector layoffs continue.
More than 21,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023, according to a Crunchbase News tally.?
Last year,?over 107,000 jobs were slashed from public and private tech companies as they were forced to confront rising inflation rates and a tumultuous stock market. The economy has come to reckon with a culture of overzealous hiring and soaring valuations, and startups are now forced to carry themselves through a frosty market as venture funding becomes barren.?隨著風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資變得貧瘠，創(chuàng)業(yè)公司現(xiàn)在被迫在一個(gè)寒冷的市場(chǎng)中生存。
