Bay Area Tech Layoffs Stoke Fears of Impending Recession

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the past week, reports of major layoffs at tech employers including Twitter, Meta and online payments company Stripe are fueling fears of a tech bust 2.0. Earlier this year, electric vehicle makers Tesla and Rivian, software maker Autodesk and fintech company Robinhood also cut hundreds of workers. The news is sending jolts through the Bay Area, which has enjoyed historically low unemployment for several years with high demand for tech workers. We talk about what these layoffs mean for the Bay Area’s economy and how to gauge the threat of an impending recession. Guests: Jeff Bellisario, executive director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute Sheera Frenkel, technology reporter based in San Francisco, The New York Times; co-author, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.3	You can fly back in time and visit SFO's Aviation Museum and Library to learn about the history of commercial aviation.
0:12.2	No boarding pass needed. Learn more at flysafo.com slash museum.
0:17.0	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:24.8	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:31.2	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:36.9	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an
0:39.7	unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting and gloriously hopeful
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0:57.0	From KQED.
1:00.0	From KQED.
1:01.0	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrible.
1:14.8	For the last decade, tech companies in the Bay Area had been on a role.
1:18.8	Share prices were through the roof, companies hired by the bus load, and if you wanted to leave
1:23.7	one A-list company for a startup or another tech giant that were bountiful opportunities.
1:29.5	Now, as 3,700 Twitter employees go looking for new jobs after being laid off by Elon Musk,
1:35.3	as many other companies are laying off workers in less prominent ways,
1:39.5	and literally more than a trillion dollars have been shaved off the market value of our tech companies in the last year,
1:46.1	we consider what the tech industry's reversal fortunes could mean for tech workers and for the rest of us who live here.
1:52.9	That's all coming up next after this news.
2:05.5	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
	...

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