Concerted layoffs that started last year have made the economy more unstable. Several big companies continue to downsize as consumer spending decreases with rising inflation.
In big tech companies, Microsoft announced reducing up to 10,000 workers. Amazon’s plan to downsize will take effect this month as they announced to let go of 18,000 workers, mainly from the retail division, People Experience and Technology (PXT), and other departments. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has decided to dismiss 15% of the employees or 200 workers at Verily’s health science division. Seven thousand workers, or 10% of the workforce, will lose their job as Salesforce announces to reduce their employee number. In cryptocurrency, Coinbase announced last week to eliminate 20% or approximately 950 employees.
Major banks have also joined the trend. Goldman Sachs said that around 3,200 employees would be let go, which is more than they have lost since the financial crisis of 2008. The Bank of America has also enforced a partial hiring freeze.
In the world of media, the Washington Post announced last month to reduce its workforce, which will take effect in early 2023. CNN and Buzzfeed had already announced layoffs since December last year. Meanwhile, NBC News and MSNBC also reported decreasing their workforce last week.
Multiple layoffs from big companies and a partial freeze in hiring pose a threat to the economic collapse. Thousands of people will lose their source of income which would cause a butterfly effect. The increasing number of homeless people, crimes, migration, and poverty rate can be expected in the following years or even months.
The White House is still optimistic about the economy, despite thousands of people losing their jobs. As they tweeted on Thursday:
President Biden is building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out – with more reasons for optimism this year. pic.twitter.com/1SHGkSNsrY
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 19, 2023
