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I am suddenly seeing articles about multiple US tech companies doing layoffs / pausing hiring on HN as well, not sure why and how all this relates....Has global

I am suddenly seeing articles about multiple US tech companies doing layoffs / pausing hiring on HN as well, not sure why and how all this relates....Has global recession started???

nluken 4y ago
While I won't object to the notion that a global recession may be on the way, the UK's particular situation is greatly exacerbated by Brexit and so might not be universal.
- _puk 4y ago
  Don't forget the recent "mini budget" also had quite an impact on the current and future state of the UK economy!
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    The minibudget was horrible. The immediate economic consequences will take a while to resolve still.
irrational 4y ago
Suddenly? I've been noticing the layoff announcements for more than a month. I work for a Fortune 100 company that has frozen hiring. That has only happened when layoffs are imminent.
- shawabawa3 4y ago
  > Suddenly? I've been noticing the layoff announcements for more than a month Layoffs have been happening since ~April
  - irrational 4y ago
    Yep, that is more than a month ;-)
JshWright 4y ago
The global economic situation is certainly complicated, but at least in the US growth seems healthy at the moment. My take is that most companies are taking advantage of the impression that we're in hard economic times to perform layoffs that they wanted to do anyway. There are certainly cases where companies were too optimistic (expecting a bigger post-pandemic "bounce") and over hired. As far as the UK goes though, this is just result of multiple terrible decisions and incompetence on the part of the government (Brexit, Truss's proposed tax cuts for the rich, etc). It is almost entirely self-inflicted, and the incredibly predictable outcome of the government's actions.
- fny 4y ago
  > My take is that most companies are taking advantage of the impression that we're in hard economic times to perform layoffs that they wanted to do anyway. And convince people to take a wage cut or outsource/"insource" labor.
  - oxfordmale 4y ago
    The lay offs are driven directly by the cost of borrowing that has gone up this year. We had a decade where money was pretty much free. Now money is no longer free, companies are looking at cutting costs.
    - fny 4y ago
      No it's not. I know this is the narrative being pushed, but this is not a real problem. Remember, the US government pumped out $3T that's still circulating, and there was record borrowing at ZIRP for bonds with 30 year duration. The Fed's hikes are an attempt to slow that down, but money is still on average cheap.
- hcurtiss 4y ago
  >As far as the UK goes though, this is just result of multiple terrible decisions and incompetence on the part of the government. What is your evidence for this? It seems most countries in the euro zone are identically situated.
onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
The US economy != tech meme stocks. Small cap tech stocks were literally worth 10-20x their present values. They hired like crazy (chasing more of that funny-money growth). Now they'll need to cut back some since the funny-money valuations are gone. I wouldn't try to connect the dots and come to the conclusion that doom & gloom lies ahead.
TechBro8615 4y ago
It's elections season and there is about to be a shift in power. Those currently in power have been resisting labeling the current environment a recession. Expect this to change in Q1 2023 as they gaslight you into believing we're in a recession because of the new team in charge.
- oxfordmale 4y ago
  The recession is driven both by an economic slowdown in China and the war in the Ukraine. The economic slowdown in China is caused by the endless Covid lockdowns. The war in the Ukraine is resulting in a shortage of natural gas in Europe, sharply driving up energy prices resulting in double digits inflation and people naturally tightening their spending. The USA has mostly been protected as they have their own gas and oil supplies, however, they are not immune to what happens in the world.
  - mizzack 4y ago
    Don't forget about rampant inflation/currency issues.
ren_engineer 4y ago
who could have guessed that governments forcing economies to shut down for months would have long term ramifications? It's not like tons of people warned about the cure potentially being worse than the disease when you factored in the long term economic damage of lockdowns
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
incomingpain 4y ago
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-annual-growth-rate?continent=world https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-annual-growth-... The definition of a recession is negative GDP; so who is it? You will notice those who are in recession are of a certain economic bloc, depending where you are in the world you will see them axis vs allies. Sure we should go further and look at real gdp but the point stands. Now in terms of the USA tech companies: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth The USA briefly dipped into recession but pulled out. The US tech companies doing layoffs isn't economic. It's war.

I am suddenly seeing articles about multiple US tech companies doing layoffs / pausing hiring on HN as well, not sure why and how all this relates....Has global recession started???

nluken 4y ago

While I won't object to the notion that a global recession may be on the way, the UK's particular situation is greatly exacerbated by Brexit and so might not be universal.

_puk 4y ago
Don't forget the recent "mini budget" also had quite an impact on the current and future state of the UK economy!
- HWR_14 4y ago
  The minibudget was horrible. The immediate economic consequences will take a while to resolve still.

irrational 4y ago

Suddenly? I've been noticing the layoff announcements for more than a month. I work for a Fortune 100 company that has frozen hiring. That has only happened when layoffs are imminent.

shawabawa3 4y ago
> Suddenly? I've been noticing the layoff announcements for more than a month Layoffs have been happening since ~April
- irrational 4y ago
  Yep, that is more than a month ;-)

JshWright 4y ago

The global economic situation is certainly complicated, but at least in the US growth seems healthy at the moment. My take is that most companies are taking advantage of the impression that we're in hard economic times to perform layoffs that they wanted to do anyway. There are certainly cases where companies were too optimistic (expecting a bigger post-pandemic "bounce") and over hired. As far as the UK goes though, this is just result of multiple terrible decisions and incompetence on the part of the government (Brexit, Truss's proposed tax cuts for the rich, etc). It is almost entirely self-inflicted, and the incredibly predictable outcome of the government's actions.

fny 4y ago
> My take is that most companies are taking advantage of the impression that we're in hard economic times to perform layoffs that they wanted to do anyway. And convince people to take a wage cut or outsource/"insource" labor.
- oxfordmale 4y ago
  The lay offs are driven directly by the cost of borrowing that has gone up this year. We had a decade where money was pretty much free. Now money is no longer free, companies are looking at cutting costs.
  - fny 4y ago
    No it's not. I know this is the narrative being pushed, but this is not a real problem. Remember, the US government pumped out $3T that's still circulating, and there was record borrowing at ZIRP for bonds with 30 year duration. The Fed's hikes are an attempt to slow that down, but money is still on average cheap.
hcurtiss 4y ago
>As far as the UK goes though, this is just result of multiple terrible decisions and incompetence on the part of the government. What is your evidence for this? It seems most countries in the euro zone are identically situated.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

The US economy != tech meme stocks. Small cap tech stocks were literally worth 10-20x their present values. They hired like crazy (chasing more of that funny-money growth). Now they'll need to cut back some since the funny-money valuations are gone. I wouldn't try to connect the dots and come to the conclusion that doom & gloom lies ahead.

TechBro8615 4y ago

It's elections season and there is about to be a shift in power. Those currently in power have been resisting labeling the current environment a recession. Expect this to change in Q1 2023 as they gaslight you into believing we're in a recession because of the new team in charge.

oxfordmale 4y ago
The recession is driven both by an economic slowdown in China and the war in the Ukraine. The economic slowdown in China is caused by the endless Covid lockdowns. The war in the Ukraine is resulting in a shortage of natural gas in Europe, sharply driving up energy prices resulting in double digits inflation and people naturally tightening their spending. The USA has mostly been protected as they have their own gas and oil supplies, however, they are not immune to what happens in the world.
- mizzack 4y ago
  Don't forget about rampant inflation/currency issues.

ren_engineer 4y ago

who could have guessed that governments forcing economies to shut down for months would have long term ramifications? It's not like tons of people warned about the cure potentially being worse than the disease when you factored in the long term economic damage of lockdowns

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

incomingpain 4y ago

https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-annual-growth-rate?continent=world https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gdp-annual-growth-... The definition of a recession is negative GDP; so who is it? You will notice those who are in recession are of a certain economic bloc, depending where you are in the world you will see them axis vs allies. Sure we should go further and look at real gdp but the point stands. Now in terms of the USA tech companies: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth The USA briefly dipped into recession but pulled out. The US tech companies doing layoffs isn't economic. It's war.