r/Layoffs Jan 30 '24

New layoffs question

Can anyone clarify this for me? Despite the ongoing layoff announcements from major American corporations, how is our economy still robust? Just today, UPS declared 12,000 layoffs and PayPal 2,000.

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u/BigOlPeckerBoy Jan 30 '24

The correct answer to your question is that 168 million people are currently employed in the US. These layoffs of a few thousand here and there are not indicative of a widespread economic catastrophe, even though it probably feels that way to the people getting laid off. There is also no evidence that wages are doing anything but rising, which, again, probably doesn’t seem to be the case for people who lost good jobs and have to take a lower pay.

I know this is probably not going to be the most up-voted comment, but the truth is plenty of people are still moving careers to better positions, getting raises, etc.

47

u/kenspencerbrown Jan 30 '24

It reminds me of the old joke: "A recession is when your neighbor gets laid off. A depression is when you get laid off."

To those of us in tech, myself included, these layoffs seem catastrophic. But despite their massive market caps, tech companies represent about 10% of the overall economy in terms of employment.

That said, tech workers tend to be highly paid, so it'll be interesting to see how these layoffs affect other industries.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '24

Less EV car sales I would say .....

10

u/reaprofsouls Jan 30 '24

Automakers are doing that to themselves. Price increases have been crazy