Why are so many tech companies undergoing massive layoffs right now?

My understanding is that this is because of the expected coming recession, which is expected to be a rough one. Tech companies actually HIRED alot during the pandemic as more people were at home consuming more tech and internet time.

Note that the layoffs aren’t necessarily everywhere evenly. I work in IT in govt contracting and we’ve had slots we’ve been trying to fill for YEARS and have been unable to. The big name firms are ones that are laying off because they had that pandemic surge and they recognize that they’ve overstaffed.

As any company enters recession periods, you usually look around and realize you overstaffed during the good times. Maybe you thought you could expand into a market segment you never did before, and it’s not working. Maybe you tried adding a new compentency you didn’t have before. Whatever the case, you hired people that aren’t pulling their weight from an economic perspective. So, you trim in order to give your company the best chance to ride out the coming economic downturn. The goal is to get lean, make it through the storm, and then start hiring again to capture market share as the economy rebounds.

Literally everyone is predicting a coming global recession. And for alot of good reasons. So, makes sense to do some pre-emptive belt-tightening.

It isn’t “so many tech companies” as much as it is the big ones.

The big companies like Meta and Alphabet (parents of Facebook and Google) are reliant on revenue from advertising. When ad revenue dries up, so do the big companies. But there are plenty of tech jobs out there, from web developers to database administrators and programmers.

There was a report this morning in a finance news letter about how investment banks kept hiring all last year. From Bloomberg News:

“The biggest US banks boosted their headcounts last year, even as some Wall Street firms cut positions to rein in expenses and rework their operations. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman and Morgan Stanley all bumped up staffing levels between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the end of last year. Citigroup’s increase was the biggest, with 17,000 employees added last year.”

We are in the midst of certain economic disruptions, most resulting from Putin’s war against Ukraine. It is why energy prices whipsawed, why supply chain disruptions have continued,, why there are food emergencies in parts of the world.

But we are not in a recession. You don’t have recession with unemployment running 3.5%.

I think a recession is already here. We better get ready for another depression. But that’s okay cause something will come along and save us all :)

@RayaHope You don’t have a recession when finding work is not difficult.

@zenvelo Everyone says the pay is so low though.

Unemployment is 3.5% which means everyone is employed except people incarcerated and in mental hospitals ! It is not a recession.

“Everyone says the pay is so low though.” Who is everyone?

I have interview offers several times a month for jobs approaching $100,000 a year.

^^That can’t be for people starting out?

If you have ten fingers and can stand up; I think you can get a job at any fast food place and they are increasing starting salary.

My local Mickey Dees are having interviews twice a month and are hiring on the spot.

^Let me check, 1–2—...9–10 and I didn’t fall down yet. Woo Hoo!! :D

My economics classes never improved on my father’s wisdom:
“When your neighbor is out of work, it’s a recession.
When you are out of work, it’s a depression!”
I agree with @Tropical_Willie.
With unemployment rates so low, we are not close to a recession.

It’s because capitalist bosses treat workers and their wages as a liability.

The large tech companies still make billions in profits. It’s just that it is never enough. You’ll read absurd headlines about profits not meeting expectations or forecasts, like they only made $10 billion instead of $15 billion, and so they need to fire some workers.

Someone told me today that all the tech layoffs are due to AI being increasingly used and taking jobs away.

^^^^ @jca2 That is just speculation on someone’s part.

@zenvelo Yes.

@jca2 I don’t know if that’s true, but Google specifically said in their statement that part of their downsizing is focusing on AI. Microsoft said something similar and we all know what Meta did. AI is definitely becoming a priority for these companies.

Apple seems to be exempt so far in part because they didn’t expand their workforce as much as the others did in the past few years.

@Locke What you said basically confirms what the teacher-person said (the person I was referencing above is my daughter’s high school teacher).