After the boom in IT recruitment in the United States, the country is experiencing a drastic increase in the number of layoffs in the sector. In question, the instability of the markets, the war across the Atlantic and over-hiring in 2021.
2021 was marked by recovery in all sectors, despite an ambient pandemic context. Telework, hybrid work, use of multiple collaboration solutions, waves of recruitment in many fields. 2022 takes a completely different turn. After the big quit phenomenon, the hiring freeze and layoffs in the tech sector slowly emerged last spring and quickly multiplied. A platform has even appeared, layoffs.fyi, and is a solid database of tech layoffs. Results published by Crunchbase News thus count more than 24,000 employees of the American technological sector laid off since the beginning of the year by at least 143 American IT companies.
Companies as big as Netflix have cut jobs several times this year, with some citing the effects of the covid-19 pandemic and others pointing to the “overhiring” effect during periods of rapid growth. We also find Clubhouse, Coinbase, Qumulo, Twitter, Shopify, Splunk, PayPal, Mozilla, Booking or LinkedIn to name a few. Here is a table of notable layoffs in the technology sector in the United States. Note that layoff and headcount figures are estimates based on the reports.
Several factors to consider
The war in Ukraine, the problems of logistics and especially of supply, as well as the covid-19 pandemic which still has a strong impact on several countries and, in fact, the markets, are all factors that have an impact on public and private markets. . This was followed by concerns about inflation, rising interest rates which contributed to a stock market seesaw. If we look at start-ups, especially those that have benefited from a pandemic boom that is starting to subside, we notice that they are starting to feel the pressure. Valuations, especially at later stages, have started to fall, and start-ups explain that it is much more difficult to raise funds in this environment.
