While the overall U.S. job market remains remarkably strong, technology companies are cutting jobs. Approximately 40,000 jobs According to Layoffs.fyi, in the first two months of 2024.
Cisco The company announced plans to lay off about 4,250 employees earlier this month. PayPal announced last month that it would cut about 2,500 jobs.
microsoft Immediately after that, in late January, the company announced that it would lay off approximately 1,900 employees in its gaming division. eBay announced that it would cut approximately 1,000 jobs.
“A lot of it is actually AI revolution“This is the biggest technology trend we’ve seen since the beginning of the Internet in 1995,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.
1 year Explosive growth of AI This is likely a key factor in the latest layoffs, experts told The Hill, as companies invest in developing innovative technology.
“Product divisions…are experimenting with how to incorporate AI into their business models, products, and features,” said Daniel Keum, an associate professor of business administration at Columbia Business School.
“That’s why they’re firing some of their non-AI developers and hiring new talent and people with AI expertise,” he continued. We are reorienting, prioritizing, and repositioning across the board. ”
Following the release of Popular AI-powered ChatGPT tool In November 2022, technology companies are racing to develop and release their own AI models and tools.
Google released its AI chatbot Bard in February last year, and Meta released its open source model Llama 2 for research and commercial use in July.
The high-tech sector has also suffered: Interest rates near zero continued for years. And they will also benefit from increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interest rates set by the Federal Reserve System raised to the highest level in 20 years Julia Pollack, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said the past two years have been particularly challenging for tech companies.
For more information, read the full report on TheHill.com.