The US' February jobs report shows the tech sector's post-2022 job losses are now outpacing past downturns in 2008 and 2020
- Tech industries are losing their strength. — One economist said tech job losses outpaced the past two recessions. — Still, there is weakness in other areas of the job market.
The significance is not a single monthly print but the comparison with prior downturns: the post-2022 contraction has persisted long enough to exceed those earlier benchmarks, making it a broader labor-market signal for the sector.
First-order effects
Tech workers face a weaker hiring environment and a larger pool of displaced candidates as cumulative losses surpass the cited historical downturns.
Employers can use the deeper labor slack to be more selective in hiring and to keep headcount plans constrained.
Second-order effects
Recruiting, contracting, and other services tied to tech hiring are likely to see lower demand as employers reduce openings and hiring velocity.
Workers leaving technology firms may widen competition for roles in adjacent industries, while companies that are still hiring gain access to more experienced candidates.
Third-order effects
If the pattern persists, tech employment may become less defined by broad-based expansion and more concentrated among firms and functions able to sustain investment through a prolonged downturn.
The comparison with 2008 and 2020 raises the prospect that labor-market recovery will be uneven across tech, rather than following the sector-wide rebound seen after shorter shocks.
The trend: The story is one data point in a shift from technology's broad hiring-led growth model toward a more selective, capital-concentrated employment market.
Brutal numbers for US tech sector jobs released today—overall, employment decreased by 12k last month and is down 57k over the last year That's now nearly as bad as the worst of the 2024 tech-cession, and significantly worse than either the 2008 or 2020 recessions [image]
US tech jobs are getting demolished in ways not seen since 2008 and the dot-com bust. Friday's shockingly weak jobs report showed a loss of 92,000 jobs in February across the broader economy, far below the expected gain of 55,000 jobs. The types of jobs lost, and the timing of [i…
Today's jobs report is “significantly worse than either the 2008 or 2020 recessions” And just yesterday GPT-5.4 officially became better at work tasks than 83% of knowledge workers. We've been debating whether AI kills jobs for three years. So what's happening here? Here's [image…
If we are seeing slowing employment or more unemployment, as we do in the tech sector here, is it fair to think that depending on the composition you might actually see an increase in productivity too...
I still don't think we have crystal-clear, I-will-hear-no-objections evidence of AI's effect on the macroeconomy. And yet. If you asked me “what would change your mind here?” I'd probably say, “emerging evidence of a productivity boom combined with a major slowdown in tech
A VERY successful HF mgr & Edge client holding a futures short position pinged me late last night with nervousness about potential Bessent intervention in oil markets. To which I replied, “Selling under the surface was solid. So is negative gamma.” And now we see bad news is
Here's a longer-term chart of US tech employment growth—the only thing that compares to the scale and length of current job losses is the dot-com bust [image]
I keep saying: the future of tech jobs is no tech jobs. — Expect anywhere from 1/4-1/2 headcount reduction overall, and that will be permanent, people. In the US we're already seeing more offshoring as there are virtually no labor laws, and any that exist formally aren't enfor…
The U.S. economy only created 15,000 jobs per month in 2025 compared to 168,000 the year before. — This 88% drop is the worst annual jobs revision since 2009. R/t FinanceLot — www.bls.gov/news.release... #BlueSky #PoliSky #MedSky #EconSky