Silicon Valley Says Goodbye, Santa Cruz Says Hello

With the possibility of a recession in 2023, many of the large Silicon Valley businesses have warned of pending layoffs. Facebook / Meta cut 11,000 jobs Wednesday in the biggest tech layoff of 2022. The tech industry has seen a string of layoffs this year in the face of uncertain economic conditions. Layoffs come as digital advertisers are cutting back on spending and rising inflation curbs consumer spending. By some estimates, as many as 45,000 job cuts will smack our northern cousins.* The pandemic caused many businesses to expand hiring during 2019-20 as they increased online commerce. And now the party is over.

Reasons for Layoffs

According to Jumpstart*, the reasons for the layoffs include:

Shifts in consumer behavior: consumers are not as dependent on technology as they were during the pandemic.
Rising inflation and high-interest rates: remember when businesses could borrow money for next to nothing? The Fed lowered the rate that it charges banks for loans from 2.25% to 0.25%, lower than during the Great Recession. Not any more. When interest rates are high, fundraising becomes more difficult; hiring freezes over.

Take a look at the job landscape differences between the Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz / Monterey.