CALIFORNIA: Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has initiated a workforce reduction within its global recruitment team as part of its ongoing efforts to curtail hiring activities, the tech giant confirmed on Wednesday.
This decision to release several hundred employees is not indicative of a large-scale layoff and is aimed at retaining the majority of the team for filling critical positions. Alphabet also pledges to assist affected workers in their pursuit of opportunities both within the company and beyond.
Alphabet becomes the first prominent “Big Tech” firm to implement layoffs in this quarter. Earlier in 2023, industry peers such as Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon executed substantial downsizing measures as a weakening economy curbed their hiring enthusiasm, which had been driven by pandemic-induced demands.
It’s worth noting that Alphabet had previously trimmed its workforce by 12,000 jobs in January, representing a 6% reduction in its staff.
The latest employment report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas indicates a significant surge in layoffs in the United States for August, with figures more than tripling compared to July and nearly quadrupling in comparison to the previous year. Economists surveyed by Reuters had predicted an approximately 8% increase in new claims for state unemployment benefits for the week ending September 9, following a 13,000 decrease in the preceding seven-day period, which had brought the total to 216,000.
Source, Reuters
