Technology

59161 readers

2119 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

241

The U.S. economy is booming. So why are tech companies laying off workers? (www.washingtonpost.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

100 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The U.S. economy is booming. So why are tech companies laying off workers?::undefined

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

It’s important to remember that for tech companies, labor is the single biggest cost by far. In many cases it’s the only significant cost. Tech companies don’t buy raw materials and sell finished goods. They hire expensive people and sell finished goods.

So layoffs aren’t just show. They actually count. And in a speculative area of the economy that’s still largely held up by lending, and where interest rates are sky high, it is in fact truly meaningful to show that your primary costs are under control. There was also legitimate frenzy hiring because of COVID that a lot of tech companies have to face the music on now.

This isn’t all empty theater for rich people. It’s actual cost of doing business math.