(some thoughts on) Tech Layoffs

In this buzz: Layoffs vs RIFs; Tech unemployment rate; IBM,MSFT, Salesforce, Amazon, Meta, Spotify and Google; and more …

Layoffs vs RIFs:
Tech layoffs have received much attention in the news over the last few months. Not to minimize the impact on people who have been affected by RIFs, it’s important to put these layoffs in perspective. Yes, almost 60,000 tech sector layoffs were announced in this month alone. Just yesterday, IBM disclosed that it is laying off 4000 employees. This is in addition to MSFT, Salesforce, Amazon, Meta, Spotify and Google all axing people.

However, the recent layoffs are dwarfed by the number of jobs added in tech during the pandemic. Google, for example, laid off 12,000 employees but had added almost 40,000 in the previous year. The tech job market is still tight, the unemployment rate in the Mecca of tech world, San Francisco is 2% as of last month and California is gaining jobs.

What doesn’t make the headlines is that…
– over 80% of laid-off tech workers have found a new job in three months or less.
– Fifty percent of those rehired reported they received pay increases.
– Three quarters of laid off employees returned to the tech industry, so things don’t see as bad as the headlines looks.
Finally, keep in mind that the tech industry, as much press as it gets, is only a sliver of the overall economy and in other sectors, companies report having to increase wages to attract and retain workers.