There are three reasons why the job market is sending out such mixed signals amid a wave of layoffs from big tech companies.
In recent months, tech companies have successively announced layoffs and several tech companies have also joined the ranks of layoffs this week, but nonfarm employment announced on Friday (4) October still reached 261,000, a slightly more increase. slow but better than the market expectation.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that this inconsistency can be explained by three reasons, including the lag between actual events and official data, the unclear classification of the tech industry in the nonfarm payroll report, and the overall strength of the market. of work. .
The first is that there is a time lag between corporate layoff announcements and data obtained by government agencies. Travel sharing platform Lyft and payment service provider Stripe both announced layoffs on Thursday (3rd) and thus were not included in the October non-farm payroll report. In addition, some employees who have been fired will not be excluded from the compilation immediately after receiving the notification, which also leads to greater delays in statistical operations.
Additionally, the Department of Labor does not divide the tech industry into a separate industry category, so layoffs from tech companies will be broken down into broader categories like “professional and business services” and “information and finance,” making it difficult for outsiders analyze official data To take a look at the employment situation in the technology sector.
Finally, while the dismissal announcements from big tech companies are eye-catching, they actually represent only a small fraction of the employment activity. Most industries still have far more demand for labor than supply, so they continue to hire employees. September Prove it.
Overall, the October non-farm payrolls report reflects that employers continue hiring at a steady pace, although the pace has slowed slightly, to meet the sharp rise in demand for goods and services after the pandemic it is attenuated.
Looking at various sectors, the US healthcare industry added 53,000 jobs in October and the leisure and catering industry added 35,000. Notably, despite the struggles of a strong dollar, weak demand for durable goods and rising interest rates, the manufacturing sector added 32,000 units, showing strong growth.
