Brian Merchant: How Big Tech is using mass layoffs to bring workers to heel
In Silicon Valley, the new year began as the last one ended — with tens of thousands of tech workers losing their jobs. Just a few days into 2023, Amazon Chief Executive Andrew Jassy announced that there would be 18,000 layoffs across the company. Within weeks, Microsoft revealed it was slashing its head count by 10,000 and Google said that it was terminating 12,000 employees. IBM looks to be next, with nearly 4,000 workers on the chopping block.
This follows 2022’s bloodbath, when tens of thousands of jobs were lost at Meta Platforms, Twitter and Salesforce. According to an industry layoff tracker, the tech sector has eliminated some 220,000 jobs since the start of last year. If the laid-off tech workers formed a city, it’d be one of the most populous in the United States, bigger than Des Moines or Salt Lake City.
The question is: Why have many of the most profitable companies of our generation — most of which are still very much profitable — announced staggering rounds of layoffs, one after the other? And why now?
A common refrain from analysts and reporters is that the companies are “tightening their belts” after profligate pandemic hiring sprees, in order to streamline operations. The executives
