Bloomberg News reports that ever since the layoffs on a mass scale took place towards the beginning of the pandemic, businesses in the United States have been adding to their workforce manpower quite faster. But now, again, they have slowed down, pulled job listings, and cut down on their recruitment plans. This move was adopted since the Federal Reserve has aggressively raised rates to curb inflation.
Sectors Most Likely to be Affected
The Federal Reserve move has made the picture gloomy across the economy, and this might be pronounced specially for the people with white-collar jobs who will be at the greatest risk of being bid goodbye. It is being apprehended that the sectors that will be the worst affected include business services, real estate, banking, and tech, where the number of individuals working for the companies is way more than what it was in the pre-covid levels. The curbing of the workforce has already begun, with real estate broker Re/max Holdings, Netflix, Snap, and the social media platform all announcing their initiation of the layoffs.
Bloomberg News reports that those sectors that have recruited the highest and fastest are the ones that are in a state of laying off at present, as revealed by William Lee, the chief economist associated with Milken Institute, implying, in particular, the white collar jobs. He said that many business entities had gone on a hiring spree, assuming there would be a strong demand due to miscalculation.
Changes in Industry Employment in the US
The following table shows the change in employment in the US industry-wise, during the period February 2022 to August 2022.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The United States can escape the chances of a downturn. This is because while one government activity measure indicates the economy’s shrinking in the first half of 2022, other pointers implied consistent growth.
According to a survey carried out by Principal Financial Group, Bloomberg News reports that two-thirds of the employees are apprehending an impending recession. On a broader scale, many companies are curtailing recruitment projections for the next year, taking measures like pulling off job listings in accounting and customer support domains. Instead, these companies intend to hire fewer people or spread recruitment over a couple of years. As said by a few experts, these companies are hedging their bets in the area of recruitment.
Compared to the composition of the US workforce in the pre-pandemic levels, it is very different now in the post-pandemic levels in almost all sectors.
