SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Another tech giant is announcing layoffs – Google is trimming at least 12,000 workers worldwide as the economy continues to suffer from the post-pandemic recovery.
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Google employees learned of the news Friday morning when an email went out from Google's parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pachai.
Pachai wrote that the company has hired for "periods of dramatic growth" over the past two years but that was a "different economic reality than the one we face today." He said the layoffs reflect a "rigorous review" that Google carried out of product areas and functions.
"I think it's unfortunate and overwhelming to think about all those people that are in this area that can now be in unemployment," said Cassi Gomez, who's worried about all the various tech-employed people she knows in Silicon Valley.
Google is just the latest tech company to announce layoffs – Microsoft is cutting 10,000 jobs, Meta is cutting 11,000, and Amazon is cutting 18,000.
This downturn is not a surprise to those who have been following economic trends over the last few years.
"We had a really good pandemic," said Russel Hancock, President and CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. "And I don't mean to be flip about that."
"But the pandemic was a bonanza for tech and so there were all kinds of hiring going on," he said. "The bonanza is over."
That reset is the result of the rapid hiring that tech companies did during the pandemic when many of us switched to working and shopping from home.
38,815 tech workers have been laid off so far in 2023.
Despite the layoffs, Google is still hiring – right now the company's website lists 178 job openings in Mountain View.
Google employees in the United States losing their jobs will get 60 days' pay, in accordance with national law.
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