Tech giants like Meta and Twitter announced historic layoffs last month, causing quite a stir in the news media. Declarations of end times rolled in as workers packed up their desks, but these headlines failed to mention that other tech companies were still hiring.
The Information sector, which includes tech jobs like those in data processing and telecommunications, gained an impressive 19,000 jobs in November, despite all the news of layoffs.
In October, the month these stories started rolling in, the layoffs rate did tick up slightly, to 1.3%. Simultaneously, however, openings also rose in the industry. Brand-name companies that were able to quickly snap up workers while demand was at its highest point are now increasing layoffs. The smaller companies who couldn’t compete at the highest points of demand still need to build up talent pools.
Because of the high-profile status of these companies and the media’s penchant for negative stories, these latest stories made headlines. The layoffs are devastating for the workers, and do point to how an era of tighter money creates difficulties. But, as these latest numbers show, they do not point to the end of demand for workers in the tech sector.
