Here's the deal... The pandemic is still farking things up. I just got laid off from my job in the bicycle industry. We had a HUGE 2 years. But supply chain issues meant that out of a normal stock of about 100,000 bikes between our distribution center, we got down to roughly 4,000. Then, we needed to order stock for both of our warehouses. But now everyone has a bike, so the industry came to a standstill (Pun intended). The shops weren't placing orders, the customers weren't either. So we had our restocking, our back orders, and our anticipated needs. Oh, and we had st least 2 off-site storage locations for the overflow. We had a LOT of bikes, and nobody could really predict what was going to happen.

And because of all of the ways this is still farking things up, companies are kow laying people off. They needed people in the pandemic, now they are paying increased employee wages with decreased business. Sure they saw a profit LAST YEAR. We saw the same thing at my company, from summer of 2020 until last summer, my company was, too.

And the reason the things seem similar is because they ARE. These companies are laying off people for the same reasons-their revenues aren't going to last.

4 years ago, this might have been a metric to use, but it's telling that so many companies have just done this, the numbers are starting to get scary. Companies don't lay people off 'just because', or they wouldn't have any product to sell. They do it because the company needs money to function.

Harlee: Mikey1969: Here's the deal... The pandemic is still farking things up. I just got laid off from my job in the bicycle industry. We had a HUGE 2 years. But supply chain issues meant that out of a normal stock of about 100,000 bikes between our distribution center, we got down to roughly 4,000. Then, we needed to order stock for both of our warehouses. But now everyone has a bike, so the industry came to a standstill (Pun intended). The shops weren't placing orders, the customers weren't either. So we had our restocking, our back orders, and our anticipated needs. Oh, and we had st least 2 off-site storage locations for the overflow. We had a LOT of bikes, and nobody could really predict what was going to happen.

And because of all of the ways this is still farking things up, companies are kow laying people off. They needed people in the pandemic, now they are paying increased employee wages with decreased business. Sure they saw a profit LAST YEAR. We saw the same thing at my company, from summer of 2020 until last summer, my company was, too.

And the reason the things seem similar is because they ARE. These companies are laying off people for the same reasons-their revenues aren't going to last.

4 years ago, this might have been a metric to use, but it's telling that so many companies have just done this, the numbers are starting to get scary. Companies don't lay people off 'just because', or they wouldn't have any product to sell. They do it because the company needs money to function.

I'm a retired Controller/CFO. There are usually pretty-damned-certain financial indicators that the fecal matter is going to intersect the rotating air movement device. This is one of those times.

Yup. Basically, it's the second round from the lockout, and the resulting supply chain issues. I'm really pissed that I got laid off for multiple reasons of course, but the one that is really starting to suck is that a few weeks ago, I had almost no competition in the job market, now, there are easily 50,000 people who have been laid off across these companies in the last 2 weeks.

cryptozoophiliac: Well, that whole inflation narrative didn't last, so let's try recession.

Anything but a successful American economy under a Democratic president. That sets a dangerous precedent.

No, it's a farking legitimate issue. Companies are back to pre-pandemic levels of business. The extra people they hired to work through the lockdown are just that now-extra.

I've been seeing the writing on the wall for my job since last summer. Both if the Distribution Centers were due for a move, too small. Well, the one for our Salt Lake office fell through. We were going to try a spilt office, warehouse on one site, office space on another. We'll, it fell through, but the money was budgeted and approved, so I had a whole bunch of needed upgrades, first being our Zoom Rooms. "Sure, it's already approved and I the budget!". Late July, early August, I went to start my next project, a whole department computer refresh, about $30 Grand. Originally, I got the same answer, but before I could start, they put a hard freeze on THAT money as well

sherkaner: Mikey1969: cryptozoophiliac: Well, that whole inflation narrative didn't last, so let's try recession.

Anything but a successful American economy under a Democratic president. That sets a dangerous precedent.

No, it's a farking legitimate issue. Companies are back to pre-pandemic levels of business. The extra people they hired to work through the lockdown are just that now-extra.

I've been seeing the writing on the wall for my job since last summer. Both if the Distribution Centers were due for a move, too small. Well, the one for our Salt Lake office fell through. We were going to try a spilt office, warehouse on one site, office space on another. We'll, it fell through, but the money was budgeted and approved, so I had a whole bunch of needed upgrades, first being our Zoom Rooms. "Sure, it's already approved and I the budget!". Late July, early August, I went to start my next project, a whole department computer refresh, about $30 Grand. Originally, I got the same answer, but before I could start, they put a hard freeze on THAT money as well

Just a reminder that the article we're commenting on is about Big Tech, which had been making record profits prior to these layoffs. There's no supply chain issues in that industry, it's mostly a few groups of large-scale investors demanding an ever-larger piece of the pie. Even if the companies could technically still get by with fewer rank-and-file employees, I think it makes more sense for the health of society overall to put those profits in the hands of people who will actually drive the economy via demand, rather than concentrating it into fewer and fewer ultra-wealthy behemoths who will only accelerate the race to the bottom.

No, there are other issues. When things ramped up to WFH, companies like this increased staff, because there was increased need for support. People were suddenly working in a new location, and had a whole new slew of issues. Many companies ended up buying duplicate equipment for workers to swap between work and home. Sure, they SAID that you could only have one setup, and had to choose, but that's never how it actually works.

Now, there isn't as much demand, as things have calmed down, THEY STILL HAVE MORE STAFF THAN THEY NEED.

Jesus, everyone around here is stuck on these single issues... This shiat is ALL related, and this is basically the cool down after a marathon. Phase 2 of the lockdown, all of the extra jobs that showed up are now excess.

Of course, apparently you think companies should pay more staff than they need, "for society", so I'm not sure why I bothered, but here we are.