Layoffs are sweeping tech-land and generating headlines, but new employment data indicates that despite Silicon Valley’s doom and gloom, the overall job market did just fine last month.
U.S. employers added 390,000 jobs in May, and the overall unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for the third month in a row--slightly above a 50-year low, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
Most of the job gains occurred in the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and transportation and warehousing industries. Conversely, the number of people working in retail actually dipped.
While employment remained relatively steady last month, scores of workers saw their hours cut--a potential harbinger of instability to come. The number of people employed part-time for “economic reasons” jumped to 4.3 million in May, up from about 300,000 in April.
Despite the relatively reassuring report, thousands of startup and tech workers have lost their jobs since the start of May, even at sizable, highly valued enterprises like Klarna and Netflix. CEOs are blaming runaway inflation, a plunging stock market, an icy venture capital funding market and economic uncertainty. Some tech companies like Uber and Twitter are also enacting hiring freezes or rescinding standing offers.
Tesla chief Elon Musk--the world’s richest person--reportedly went so far as to say he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy upon slashing 10% of the electric vehicle manufacturer’s workforce and suspending hiring on Thursday.
Whether you’ve lost your job, you’re hunkering down, or you’re on the hunt for something new, here are some resources from The Org that can help:
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