ABC 7 Chicago’s Post

Interesting Statista Infographic showing just how dramatic the tech sector lay offs were at the start of last year. The whole world felt the knock on effects of such big cuts in that sector, hopefully 2024 will be a significantly better year for jobs & Livelihoods globally! #Tech #Jobs #Techsector #jobcuts #recruitment

That is the way the American capitalist system works,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s ruthless when it gets down to striving for profitability and creating wealth. It redirects resources very rapidly from one place to another. Wall Street’s sell-off of tech stocks in 2022 pushed companies to win back investors by focusing on increasing profits, and firing some of the tens of thousands of workers hired to meet the pandemic boom in consumer tech spending. With many tech companies laying off workers, cutting employees no longer signaled weakness. Now, executives are looking for more places where they can squeeze more work out of fewer people. https://lnkd.in/gXrX4niw

Why Are So Many Perks & People Being Let Go In Silicon Valley? There once was a time when technology workers were pampered with treats; free gourmet food, free laundry services, free massages & generous compensation. But those days are not only over, apparently, tech workers themselves are getting sacked in high numbers. While the US added 353,000 jobs last month, tech companies continued giving thousands more workers their pink slips in January after laying off 260,000 employees last year. So why the massive change of heart with respect to the value of workers? First, AI is a big deal & orgs like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce et al, let people go in under-performing areas in order to invest heavily in the future. An existential moment, perhaps. Second, AI may already be eliminating some jobs that can be automated. It’s almost certain this relates to a small percentage of the job cuts. But the big reason according to this research is that investor demands (greed?) for greater profits and share price appreciation have pressured CEOs to improve their bottom lines even more (Note that the Nasdaq 100 index closed at an all-time high just 18 days ago) and to squeeze workers to get there: "The continued cuts come as companies are under pressure from investors to improve their bottom lines. Wall Street’s sell-off of tech stocks in 2022 pushed companies to win back investors by focusing on increasing profits, and firing some of the tens of thousands of workers hired to meet the pandemic boom in consumer tech spending. With many tech companies laying off workers, cutting employees no longer signaled weakness. Now, executives are looking for more places where they can squeeze more work out of fewer people." “That is the way the American capitalist system works,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s ruthless when it gets down to striving for profitability and creating wealth.” 

Do you feel that? It’s the workforce rapidly changing. Jeffrey Spector—the co-founder and president of Karat, a tech interviewing platform—explained to CNBC how Silicon Valley may have lost its monopoly on workers after another round of big tech layoffs at Twitch, Amazon, Discord, Duolingo, and Google. Should we be surprised? The past 12 months have been filled with CEOs teasing plans to replace people with AI. The information technology sector only added a net 700 jobs last year in the U.S., compared to 267,000 the year prior. Yikes. This is mostly because of an estimated 262,242 layoffs plus pandemic-era overhiring, plus AI-generated cuts at the entry level. And yet there are still some 88,000 roles open, according to tech consultancy Janco Associates. We conducted research in late December suggesting that these numbers might not be telling the whole story as more top-tier tech workers shift to the independent work model. We surveyed 1000 tech workers in the US, 86% said they would like more control and flexibility over their work schedule than traditional full-time employment can offer, and 64% said they didn’t feel secure committing to one employer anymore. As the CNBC article explains, senior tech workers are eschewing big tech for safe havens — and in many cases, that haven is freelancing. Check out the full survey of 1000 knowledge workers in the US to see why: https://hubs.ly/Q02jXxm40

I hate reposting my own content, but I feel I must make an important addendum to my earlier post. It's a common myth that you must sacrifice earning potential to gain flexibility. This is a story we've been telling women for decades to justify paying them (us) less than the guys, and now some are using the same argument to push full time staff back into the office. And it's baloney. You shouldn't have to choose. The reality is that I hit my full-time earnings peak back in 2012. You heard me. I've made less annually in the last decade than I did when I was 32. It took stepping out on my own, starting my own business, and setting my own terms to jump back up and beyond what I made back then. (In straight dollars - NOT adjusted for inflation.) There are many factors that go into what makes a job meaningful, rewarding, valuable and compensated. Sometimes there is a trade-off between stability, earning potential, stock options, flexibility, and more. But don't assume that working in a flexible mode means sacrificing your worth. The opposite may just as equally be true. #payequity #womanownedbusiness #insuranceindustry #womensupportingwomen #flexibility #futureofwork #value #insuranceprofessional #careergrowth #mentorship #knowyourworth

The "war for talent" is back, at least for the lucky few who read the tea leaves and honed their expertise in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence ahead of schedule. This story of a 300% counteroffer to prevent a Google employee from jumping ship is in stark contrast to the recent layoffs and expense-cutting. We can expect more of this when level 3 and 4 employees can be comfortably shed when rockstar engineers operate at 10× thanks to AI pair-programming. There are epochal shifts in the way software is both created and staffed. It will also concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who can muster the capital expenditure to build massive server farms full of AI-optimized silicon and the engineers that can best harness those resources. Legacies are being built here, and robust oversight and, dare I say it, "wealth redistribution" needs to be countenanced before a complete implosion of societal norms in the face of a post-scarcity future, crashing up against a 50% unemployment rate. #google #layoffs #salary #ai #ubi

With over 200,000 tech workers laid off since 2023, you’d think we’d be experiencing a hiring bonanza. But employers are still struggling to fill critical roles. The competition to locate and secure skilled tech talent remains incredibly fierce. And innovative staffing firms are tackling this challenge with fresh approaches. #Tech #Hiring #Recruiting

As the digital landscape expands, we're observing shifts in the employment sector. The emergence of chatbots and automated customer support systems is causing job reductions, much like during the 2008 recession when companies cited economic downturns as justification for widespread layoffs. This trend highlights a concerning use of "market slowdowns" as a pretext for replacing human workers with technology. Although technology offers numerous advantages, it's crucial to assess its societal impacts. Striking a balance between innovation and job stability is essential. Investing in workforce training and education is imperative for adapting to new technological demands. The human aspect of business must not be overlooked. Employees are the foundation of any company, and their welfare should be a priority. While technology will undoubtedly persist, it should enhance, rather than replace, human labor. By collaboratively shaping a future where technology supports and coexists with human work, we can foster an environment where both can thrive.

What's going on with compensation? SV tech salaries lead the nation but have stagnated. Last week I summarized startup comp & hiring trends (TLDR: hiring halved last year, average salaries pretty flat, equity grants dropped, local candidates more likely hired for big startups). This week let’s look at tech comp in the US (per Dice, a tech career hub, based on 6000+ US survey respondents): -  Silicon Valley's average tech pay still leads the country at $141,618. Boston is #2 at $125,714, Denver #3 $122,913, Seattle #4 $122,599, Philadelphia #5 $121,187, NYC #6 $119,865, Tampa #7 $119,848, Houston #8 $119,423, Raleigh #9 $118,933, and LA #10 $117,096. - BUT tech comp in Silicon Valley fell 2.3% from last year. I hear turnaround could be later this year. I’m thinking that will depend on interest rates dropping (per WSJ on 3/20: "Fed Officials Still See Three Cuts This Year" woohoo!), geopolitical conflict diminishing, and politics/policy being stable.

"The tech job market is now effectively flooded with qualified workers after a decade-plus of people flocking to an industry that went from nerd-haven to mainstream ... “Anecdotally, I’d say it’s the hardest it’s been to get a tech job since probably the dot-com bust."" Related: Survey Reveals: 55% Of U.S. Workers Have Job Security Concerns https://lnkd.in/guzdVaW4 "When we break down job security fears by industry, it’s clear that the tech sector is most concerned. Information — Services And Data (89.66%) and Software (74.42%) are the industries where workers are most concerned about job loss ... People in IT are noticeably more worried [about AI] than anyone else. 72.42% of people in IT positions are concerned, with nearly half (48.28%) completely agreeing that AI will affect their job security. Less than 7% believe it won’t have any impact." 🤔