Despite frequent news stories about large-scale layoffs at tech giants such as Google, Meta, and Amazon, demand for labor in the U.S. still far exceeds supply. There are currently 1.8 openings for every unemployed person in the U.S. Yes, that’s down from a peak of two openings for each unemployed person, but still historically extremely high. In fact, according to PBS, before the pandemic the country usually had more unemployed people than open jobs.
This tight labor market is further illustrated by the ongoing—and notably increasing—gap in available talent. The gap increased by 181K jobs between October of 2022 and January of 2023, even though January was the worst month to date for tech layoffs.
Total Nonfarm Jobs, Seasonally Adjusted - in Thousands (000)
Source: BLS JOLTS; CrunchBase
The recent tech layoff numbers are small compared to hiring activity across other sectors—with hiring rates above pre-pandemic levels in warehousing, healthcare, and many other industries. And although the tech sector’s hiring frenzy has slowed, it will have little impact on the overall labor market since tech talent is in high demand elsewhere. Among recent new hires, 54% said they found a new job within 30 days and another 34% within 90 days.