Context: Total Layoff Timeline

First, we want to introduce the layoff trend from the past year and discover when the low and high of layoff happened. It turns out the highest layoff points (by employee count) occurred in mid-November 2022 and mid-January 2023.

However, the average percentages of layoff per company at these times are not quite high. This tells there were many tech companies at different scales impacted by layoff at these times instead of solely in several companies.

Sources
Layoffs.fyi

Focus: What Companies Have We Seen on the Layoff News?

Sad news of corporates laying off employees have been spreading on social media and news platforms over the past months. Many of these companies are in fact the major tech players we are familiar with. For instance:

June 14 2022: Coincase confirms 18% of their employees to be cut, marking onset of crypto industry layoff trend.

Nov 4 2022: Twitter confirms 50% of their employees to be laid off, leading the catastrophic following months of tech industry layoff.

Nov 9 2022: Meta follows Twitter with 13% of their layoff, which was not their only layoff. Tech layoff officially reaches its first peak.

Jan 4 2023: Amazon confirms more than 18,000 employees to be laid off.

Below is a timeline of the other notable layoff examples within the past year.

Sources
Tech layoffs in 2023: A timeline
Corporate layoffs in 2023

What Factors Tend To Cause More Layoffs?

Locations of companies:
Companies situated in regions with a high concentration of tech firms often face stiffer competition for talent, customers, and resources.

Sizes of companies:
Larger organizations have more layers of management and complex bureaucracy, which can make it difficult to quickly adapt to market changes.

Maturity of companies:
Startups and early-stage companies are often focused on rapid growth and innovation, which can lead to aggressive hiring practices. However, as these companies mature, they may need to shift their focus towards profitability and sustainability. This transition can result in a reassessment of workforce needs and lead to layoffs as the company reorganizes its priorities.

Factors: Layoff Geographic Distribution in USA

During the past year, it is under the assumption that tech heavy regions such as Bay Area (CA), New York and Washington are among most numbers of companies that practice layoff. In addition, some tech rising cities such as Lehi (UT), Nashville (TN) are suffering high layoff. Many highest layoff companies within these states are in fact big post-IPO companies such as Meta (CA), Dell (TX), and Peloton (NY).

Besides, with the age reference per state, it seems states on the East coast are of higher median ages and have found more severe layoff (e.g. New Jersey, New York, Delaware). States on the West coast, however, are of lower median ages and have found more severe layoff (e.g. California, Utah, and Colorado).

(Please zoom in/out for a more granular view of average % of company laid off at city level. )

Sources
Tech Layoffs: US Companies That Cut Jobs In 2022 and 2023

Study: Do Bigger Companies Suffer More Layoff?

(Bigger companies in our study are defined by Post-IPO Companies)

To answer this question, let’s take a look at the layoff trend in the US between post-IPO companies and pre-IPO companies.

For the graph below we could tell even though at the beginning of the layoff timeline, pre-IPO companies seem to cut more employees, the recent trend shows that post-IPO companies (big tech companies) are rapidly catching up in the number of employees they lay off.

Sources
Layoffs.fyi
Technology Company Layoffs (2022-2023)

Hiring: Hiring Trend (industries, opening roles, etc)

While the topic of layoffs can be disheartening, it is important to understand that it is not the complete story. As we saw above, layoffs seem to be concentrated to be a large firms’ phenomena. Through the graphs ahead, we aim to explore what is the hiring looking like.

For February 2023, maximum openings are in the company sizes of 51 - 200, in SaaS, and for Engineers. If we focus on Tech labour specifically - Engineers, Product Managers, and Designers - SaaS and Consumer are the biggest contributor to openings.

Sources
Top Tech Startups Hiring 2023

Company size: (Number of employees):
Smaller firms with 1 - 200 number of employees contribute 57% to open positions as compared to larger ones with 43% contribution. This further reinforces the conclusion from the layoff data that the turmoil in the tech labour market is mostly centered around large firms.

Industries:
SaaS contributes more than half of the openings at 53%. Followed by Consumer - contributes less than half of those openings at 24%.

Job Profiles:
Engineering contributes half of the open positions, followed by Sales at 23%. Product manager and designer positions are at an equivalent number at 7% and 6% respectively - much lessor than engineering positions.

Below are the top 5 companies hiring for each of the positions directly related to tech labor: Engineering, Product, Design.

Engineering:

Product Managers:

Designers:

Despite the challenges that the job market has faced due to the pandemic, there is still hope for those seeking new opportunities. As we have seen, there are industries and companies that are actively hiring and looking for talented individuals to join their teams. By focusing on SaaS and Consumer industries, tech labor such as Engineers, Product Managers, and Designers have the most opportunities. The top 5 companies hiring for each of these positions have been identified and can serve as a starting point for those looking to apply. It's important to stay optimistic and keep an eye out for these hiring trends to find the perfect fit.

Conclusion:

To all the job seekers out there, it's important to remember that the current state of the tech job market is not all gloom and doom. Yes, there have been layoffs and restructuring, but as our analysis has shown, many companies are still actively hiring. In fact, some industries and companies are experiencing significant growth and demand for skilled workers.

As we dive deeper into the data, we can see that there are opportunities out there, particularly in the areas of software as a service (SaaS) and consumer technology. Companies of varying sizes are also hiring for a range of positions, from engineers to product managers and designers.

So don't let the fear of the current job market discourage you from pursuing your dream job in the tech industry. There are still many opportunities out there, and with the right skills and mindset, you can land a fulfilling and rewarding position in this dynamic field. Keep upskilling and networking, stay positive, and never give up on your job search. Good luck!

Attributions:

Information Visualizations:
Harris (layoff: Section 1-4); Jannie (layoff: Section 1); Shubham (hiring: Section 5)

Narrative Writing:
Harris (Cover, Section 1-4); Jannie (Section 5, Conclusion); Shubham (Section 5)

Data Research & Mining:
Harris; Jannie; Shubham

Web Design:
Jannie

Web Development & Online Presence (GitHub):
Jannie

Illustrations:
Cover Image
Conclusion Image

Sources:
Layoffs.fyi
Tech layoffs in 2023: A timeline
Corporate layoffs in 2023
Tech Layoffs: US Companies That Cut Jobs In 2022 and 2023
Technology Company Layoffs (2022-2023)
Top Tech Startups Hiring 2023

Note:
The inspiration of the cover design is from The Economist magazine. All images on this website (unless attributed) are designed by Jannie. The website is built from scratch without using code from other sources. Should you have any question about this project, please contact us at jannie_zhou@berkeley.edu