The parent company of Google, Alphabet, announced in a staff message that it is laying off roughly 12,000 employees due to “a changed economic reality.” This makes Alphabet the latest computer major to reduce workers after a pandemic-driven hiring boom.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO since 2019, claimed “full responsibility” for the decisions that resulted in the job losses, which will effect 6% of the company’s employees.
Alphabet, situated in Mountain View, California, increased its staff by over a third between 2020 and 2021. On Friday, Alphabet stock increased by 4%.
They have decreased 30% over the past 12 months, mirroring a 24% decline in the larger tech sector.
According to Pichai, Alphabet’s layoffs came after an assessment of its priorities and employees that affected different geographic areas.
Recruiters, corporate employees, and members of the engineering and product teams are among those losing their employment, he noted.
The company’s leadership accepting “full responsibility,” according to the Alphabet Workers Union, was of “little consolation.”
However, the AppleInsider website reported on Friday, citing sources, that the iPhone manufacturer had begun to fire non-seasonal workers from its retail channel, including Best Buy stores.
Apple was unavailable to comment on the report right away.
Even though there is a tight employment market in the US, the layoffs have increased concerns of a recession.
According to Stuart Cole, an economist at Equiti Capital, the tech industry is somewhat like the proverbial canary in the coal mine because layoffs there signal that the prognosis for job security is finally starting to turn more unfavourable.
