The layoffs have come off as a new phenomenon for the tech sector. The past decade has experienced extensive growth in the tech sector. When the covid-19 pandemic surrounded the world, and things shifted to online, tech hiring increased tremendously in Silicon valley. Some major tech companies like Facebook and Meta, the parent company of Facebook have doubled the workforce to mitigate the increasing demands.
But now, the pressure has plummeted. The industry is going through its worst contractions with tech companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. All of the companies have announced layoffs in the past couple of months.
Good sources have indicated that more than 20,000 jobs have been lost in the last year.
The pain of the brutal layoffs is evident, but there are a few points that should be remembered:
The layoffs have been historic for tech companies:
Silicon Valley has resisted the majority of drastic situations previously like the great recession of the 2000s. The tech sector has been historically resilient and has surpassed many difficult situations because of its size and ubiquity.
Even though the layoffs by the big tech companies are small when seen from the total headcount perspective, the layoff can not be looked upon. Facebook parent companies Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have eliminated 51000 jobs altogether.
Predictions have previously stated that Silicon valley’s growth can not continue forever. The extent of the cuts has increased rapidly. The cuts followed a year of surplus growth. Many companies, including Meta and Amazon have increased their headcount rapidly during the pandemic.
Other tech companies scaled up their workforce less aggressively. Microsoft and google appointed 50 percent of employees during the industry-based hiring process.
Apple has even scaled up the hiring process but at a slower rate than its counterparts.
Apple is the only big company that has not yet announced layoffs.
Layoffs do not necessarily mean that the big tech companies are in trouble
The tech companies that are undergoing the restructuring process are considered the world’s most valuable firms and can result in higher revenues. Tech companies are loaded with mountains of funds.
Microsoft tried to purchase the video game maker Activision Blizzard the previous year before the federal regulators had to meddle to challenge the deal. Microsoft offered a price of 69 billion USD in cash for the agreement.
Furthermore, the tech giant has gained major profits in the recent quarter: it has successfully colled 16 billion USD in the last three quarters.
Meta announced in the last quarter, stating that their profits have declined sharply to 52 percent, but it still amounts to 4.4 billion USD.
The same trend has been observed for Amazon.
Thus, it can be summarised that none of the tech companies are on the way to collapse, but they are preparing for what may take place in the future- the reduction in customer spending., pandemic, revenue, ad, customer spending
The situation is meant to send a message to the shareholders at a time when tech companies have visualized their stock prices to increase.
Executives have pointed to high inflation, reduction in customer spending, and recession fears to back up for the layoffs:
Meta was the first tech company to announce mass layoffs. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s tactics were backed by overhiring to meet the aggressive demands during the pandemic and cut down the workforce pointing at recession fears.
Zuckerberg validated his action by stating that the online platform has declined to the previous trends followed by a macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and loss of ad revenue. He has further added that he is to be blamed for the situation, and he will take responsibility for it.
There are signs that inflation is declining, but it is still high at 6.5 percent. Furthermore, many economists have predicted that the U.S. economy can slip into recession this year.
People are disposable at the end of the day to some extent and companies can not downsize on Research and Development.
The tech industry is the major driver in the stock market and controls the economy:
The tech industry contributes to the largest workforce in the U.S. and 1.8 trillion USD in the American economy.
The stock markets are greatly impacted by how the tech companies are performing, especially in the Nasdaq where tech companies contribute to half of the index.
This implies that when big tech companies are affected, the local companies and the people’s investments also take a downturn.
Laid-off employees have a better job prospect:
Some studies have indicated that laid-off workers are capable to land a job. A survey showed that 8 out of every ten impacted employees in the tech industry have added another job within three months of initiating the search.
The demand for skills and experience goes beyond the tech companies and traditional startup sectors. It helps to provide extensive opportunities to laid-off employees.
Every company has shifted to a technology company now. And it has become an expansive field for coders, engineers, and AI experts, where they have multiple opportunities.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
