If you were to read only the tech press right now, you would think that layoffs are everything. Last week, Amazon announced it was cutting 18,000 jobs, and Salesforce is laying off 10% of its staff.
That’s not the entire picture. The Labor Department last week also announced that only 204,000 people filed new jobless claims, the lowest since September. The number of continuing unemployment claims fell by 24,000.
The headline unemployment rate,at 3.5%, matched its lowest levels in decades. It fell even as the labor force expanded by 439,000 workers. An additional 717,000 Americans reported being employed. Employers are still hiring at a rapid pace — 223,000 in December — but slowing from early last year’s unsustainable numbers.
The economy has added roughly 247,000 jobs per month on average in the last three months, slower than the 366,000 in the prior three-month stretch and less than half of the 539,000 jobs added each month in Q1 2022.
And, ADP that large companies cut 151,000 jobs on net in December — but hiring by small and midsize companies was so robust that there was an overall gain of 235,000 jobs.
CompTIA’s job data analysis says technology employment continues to hold steady to begin the new year. Employers throughout the economy added an estimated 130,000 tech workers in December, helping to drive down the tech occupations unemployment rate to 1.8%, compared to the overall national rate of 3.5%.[1]
According to October data from ZipRecruiter, about 37 percent of surveyed laid-off tech workers found a new job within one month, and 79 percent were employed within three months.
Why do we care?
If one were immersed in Silicon Valley only, the world might seem bleak and horrific for technology companies and workers. That isn’t the whole story. There are certainly some companies that are course correcting, and for any individual who loses their job, it’s a traumatic experience. That said, they’re landing new ones, and overall within the tech world beyond just the Valley, tech jobs are steady, and tech workers are in demand.
In the larger picture of the overall economy, the worker shortage isn’t over, and there’s growth. Good news for those selling to customers who are both growing…and need to do more with less. That’s good for technology providers, as customers will need continued technology investment.
I’d offer this. Workers are becoming available from those layoffs. Those in technology services should be looking for those skillful workers. And know that your customers will be looking for more assistance, as they need people too.