Cronkite school of journalism at
Arizona state university.
Judy: The latest jobs report is
further confirmation of
a strong labor market in the
U.S., one that may be slowing
down but has proven more
resilient than many have
expected.
Many sectors are continuing to
add jobs, but that's
not true in the tech sector,
where a number of companies have
announced layoffs.
Our economics correspondent Paul
Solman looks at what that means
for those workers and why the
struggles in tech may not be as
problematic for the wider
economy as one would think.
Paul: Seven weeks into her dream
job as the software company --
at the software company known as
meta, formally known as
Facebook, Julia gonik was
suddenly laid off.
>> It's like the ground just
fell out from underneath me and
all of my opportunities and the
future that I saw for myself
just completely disappeared.
Paul: Now, the ink barely dry on
her mit diploma, the computer
science major is looking for a
new job.
>> The market is just not great
right now.
So that makes interviewing and
looking for a new job more
stressful since you just don't
know if there are jobs out there
or if you can get a job that you
would actually like to do and
want to do.
Paul: Especially jobs that pay
like big tech.
>> Software engineers at these
big companies definitely make
very good money right outside of
college. Definitely six figures
starting salary.
Paul: Plus a signing bonus.
Three weeks ago, gonik was one
of 11,000 laid off at meta
without warning.
13% of the company.
One of more than 140,000 tech
workers who have already lost
their jobs this year, making
headlines worldwide.
Especially worried, those on a
work-sponsored Visa which allows
them to remain in the U.S.
>> It is extremely stressful
being in that ambiguous state,
like feeling really vulnerable
and really helpless.
Paul: For four years, Iyer was a
product designer
at the ridesharing app Lyft.
She has 60 days to find a job or
go back to India.
>> On the day of layoffs you're
instantly logged out of all your
applications, all your systems,
all your apps, all your
documents.
Paul: Four years of work, that
you were simply instantaneously
logged out of?
>> Yes.
Paul: Nobody to call to say,
hey, can you just give me a
couple of days to download some
stuff?
>> The moment you're laid off,
you have till the end of the
day.
Paul: So what did you do?
>> I had a lot of exit
formalities to complete, so that
took most of my day.
Paul: And all that time you're
thinking, how do I retrieve
the work you've done for your
portfolio?
>> Right.
It was driving me crazy.
I had to compromise on a lot of
great companies because everyone
instantly wants to see work.
Paul: And she could not access
any of hers.
So, massive disruption in tech,
massive layoffs. A harbinger of
deep recession?
>> Silicon valley has burned
down many times. And every time
it burns down, it reinvents
itself.
But this time, it isn't a forest
fire.
It's just a hedge trimming.
Paul: Longtime valley
entrepreneur vivek wadhwa.
>> This is nothing like the dot
com burst.
The dot com burst had global
consequences and it was huge. It
set the economy back for years
to come. This is just a minor
correction.
Paul: Economist Betsey Stevenson
agrees.
>> What I'm seeing is a sector
that hired more than most other
sectors did during the pandemic.
They're pulling back a little
bit with layoffs.
And we're still dealing with
monthly jobs reports that are
showing us job growth that's
bigger than almost any single
month we had prior to the
pandemic.
So I don't think there's any
reason to worry that there are
some people losing their jobs
because, you know, there are
hundreds of thousands of others
gaining jobs.
Paul: Of course that does not
make it any easier for those
workers laid off.
But, Stevenson actually has a
positive big-picture reframing.
>> When the pandemic began,
technology was our savior. We
turned to technology to be able
to work from home, to be able to
shop from home, to be able to
talk to our doctors from home.
But I do think that, you know,
it's run its course in terms of
that growth.
And the fact that is resulting
in the tech sector having
layoffs to me symbolizes that
we've reached the end of this
pandemic era.
>> I actually think that the
recent wave is a bit overdue and
maybe good for the rest of the
economy.
Paul: And there is actually an
upside to the layoffs,
claims techno-optimist Erik
brynjolfsson, who runs the
digital economy lab at Stanford.
>> There's a ton of really great
tech talent that's been tied up
in activities that may not be
creating that much value.
Especially, I'm thinking of
crypto.
Meanwhile, the real need is to
have tech folks go and transform
the rest of America
, the manufacturing, retailing,
finance, health care, most of
all.
And we need to unleash some of
the talent in that part of the
economy.
Paul: I put this to the talent
itself.
>> I think that is possible.
I have been looking at some job
opportunities in the health care
sector, for example.
So it's definitely somewhere
that I may end up.
>> I was always more passionate
to be in healthcare or something
that has to do with like food
and health services or something
that has to do with education
and learning, etc.
So now I feel that it's a good
time to recalibrate and rethink
about the future.
Paul: In sum, a rough ride for
sure for laid off tech talent,
especially from abroad. But for
the economy, and eventually even
the talent, maybe, just maybe, a
harbinger of health.
For the pbs newshour, Paul
Solman, reporting, though still
sometimes remotely, in what we
all pray is the dawn of the
post-pandemic era.