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Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2024. Why is that? (www.npr.org)

submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2024. Why is that?::undefined

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[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (2 children)

There was massive over hiring near the end of covid. So now they are shedding again.

Everyone is cutting headcount, so everyone else is following along. Thinking this must be good we stay competitive.

It's a pretty US focused issue though, as in European countries you can't just fire someone like that. There's definitely more cautious hiring though.

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 9 points 9 months ago

There was also a certain level of "denial of talent" competition among the tech giants. Hire any vaguely competent people event if practically useless so the competition doesn't get them. It works only if you have infinite money (as in 0 interest rates) which is not the case any more.

[–] JasSmith@sh.itjust.works 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There hasn’t been the same purge here in Europe. I think the US tech industry is very large, and covid saw demand surge, resulting in a lot of hiring. Demand slumped which led to this. We’re not seeing the same purge in other industries. Headcount just needs to normalise again, which I think won’t take much longer. Unfortunately there is a compounding factor: interest rates. Tech was propped up by free money. Without that, we might see larger structural issues in the industry. If companies start failing then we enter a new phase in the layoffs.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah very large at more at will employment so you can just Hoover up anyone and then see if you needed then later..