How do we reconcile all the headlines of massive job cuts by some of America’s biggest companies — totalling more than 100,000 just in January — and blockbuster employment reports?
Goldman Sachs economists led by Jan Hatzius appear to have given up their weekends to explore this enigma. In a report published this AM, they pointed out that most of the lay-offs have been concentrated among tech companies that went on a hiring binge over the pandemic and are now trimming costs to rejuvenate their share prices.
Therefore, they don’t see the spate of job cuts from the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Dell, Meta and, erm, Goldman Sachs as a harbinger for a wider employment downturn. Here are the main bullet points of the report, titled “A Ripple, Not a Wave.”