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The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

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Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#91

Post by throw0101a »

carrja99 wrote: post #77
jklein11 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." Has anyone seen this happen in practice? Any HNer who is management have to lay people off because their executives say “we have no problem getting capital right now but we think it might become more difficult in the future.”

Not really. The only time I saw something like this was as a contractor at a certain Fortune 500 company. As each fiscal year was approaching the end and budgets were running close, they'd quickly lay off all the contractors. They'd then be aggressively hiring contractors once they were in the new fiscal year. I never quite understood that one. Feels like the churn would be more costly than keeping those contractors…

Not even contractors sometimes.

I've seen full-time employees laid off at one point, given severance, told not to look "too hard" for a new job, companies reported numbers, and hired back the same people in the same roles a few months later.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#92

Post by kaikai »

carrja99 wrote: post #77
jklein11 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." Has anyone seen this happen in practice? Any HNer who is management have to lay people off because their executives say “we have no problem getting capital right now but we think it might become more difficult in the future.”

Not really. The only time I saw something like this was as a contractor at a certain Fortune 500 company. As each fiscal year was approaching the end and budgets were running close, they'd quickly lay off all the contractors. They'd then be aggressively hiring contractors once they were in the new fiscal year. I never quite understood that one. Feels like the churn would be more costly than keeping those contractors…

Part of the deal with contractors is they're not supposed to be working there for years at a time, otherwise they're employees. Those layoffs might be justification for cycling people out to avoid having to convert them.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#93

Post by isoskeles »

moorhosj wrote: post #89
isoskeles wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be an apple vendor who lowers their price, same difference here. The label doesn't matter. But here in the US, they definitely act like a bully eager to punish people for earning money because half the country views wealth as a sin. They do it to the extent of coming up with absurd new tax schemes. > Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, announced on Tuesday that he is working on a mark-to-market system that would tax u…

==half the country views wealth as a sin.== But I thought they were all atheists, which is it? ==absurd new tax schemes.== As opposed to the old scheme of cutting taxes for the richest among us and telling the rest it will trickle down to them? How many times of that not working before we are allowed to try something new?

> But I thought they were all atheists, which is it?

Don't be ridiculous, you understand what I wrote.

> trickle down etc

They still pay more than you or I, by rate and nominally, unless most of their income is in long-term capital gains. And this isn't what people target when they talk about a "90%" (or whatever number) income tax rate on the wealthiest.

I would prefer we dismantle our massive war-spending problem before we even start touching taxes. It's such a stupid debate, and I refuse to engage in it beyond that point.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#94

Post by icelancer »

turtlecloud wrote: post #74
ishjoh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I invest in index funds that follow the S&P 500 according to a formula. The data shows that they tend to outperform managed funds in the long term. With so many people following the same strategy it will be interesting to see if that stays true long term, but the problem is the same as it ever was. How do you identify an active fund manager that will outperform the market over a long time period? Do they still outper…

Real life doesn't work like that. Not everyone can put money into a magic ETF that guarentees returns. The passive index funds are piggy backing off the work of active investors. Thought experiment: If everyone put money into an index fund that guarantees returns, what is the difference between that and a Ponzi scheme?

At no point did the parent comment say the returns were guaranteed, only that they were generally better than actively-managed funds (mostly due to fees).

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#95

Post by vkou »

Ma8ee wrote: post #24
pascalxus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

anytime you grow at an unsustainable rate, a slowdown is inevitable. It's not a question of if, its a question of when.

The question is what is a sustainable rate.

Any exponential growth will eventually become unsustainable.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#96

Post by seppin »

jacquesm wrote: post #7
BluSyn wrote: post #2

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." I sometimes wonder if these sorts of economic projections end up being self-fulfilling prophecies. If everyone tightens up spending because they expect a recession, that essentially guarantees there will be one.

The whole economy is powered by belief. No bank would be able to handle a bank run.

No person would be able to handle a knife opening up their abdomen either, lucky that there are few cases where this would actually happen.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#97

Post by throwawaymanbot »

BluSyn wrote: post #2

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." I sometimes wonder if these sorts of economic projections end up being self-fulfilling prophecies. If everyone tightens up spending because they expect a recession, that essentially guarantees there will be one.

[dead]

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#98

Post by everdev »

mtw wrote: post #84
BluSyn wrote: post #2

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." I sometimes wonder if these sorts of economic projections end up being self-fulfilling prophecies. If everyone tightens up spending because they expect a recession, that essentially guarantees there will be one.

It's not just projections or worries. Companies have real hard data, such as sales pipeline, inventories, orders etc. If your sales pipeline is down, inventory is stocking up, and your warehouse is idle compared to a year before, it is a manager's job to lay off employees. a few interesting reports: https://www.reddit.com/r/StockMarket/comments/aydpbu/first_h... https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1110161228507348…

True but there's also a lot of unknowns and variables in any business and mangers have to guess sometimes. In that sense mood and atmosphere can matter if you're on the fence.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#99

Post by Shebanator »

carrja99 wrote: post #77
jklein11 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies' layoff intentions." Has anyone seen this happen in practice? Any HNer who is management have to lay people off because their executives say “we have no problem getting capital right now but we think it might become more difficult in the future.”

Not really. The only time I saw something like this was as a contractor at a certain Fortune 500 company. As each fiscal year was approaching the end and budgets were running close, they'd quickly lay off all the contractors. They'd then be aggressively hiring contractors once they were in the new fiscal year. I never quite understood that one. Feels like the churn would be more costly than keeping those contractors…

Adobe used to lay people off pretty much every winter to make their Q4 numbers look better, then hire many of the same folks back a few months later. It sucked. From what I've heard they don't do this is as much now that their business is subscription-driven.

Re: The U.S. just had the most Q1 layoffs in a decade

#100

Post by empath75 »

pascalxus wrote: post #13

And yet, markets are nearly at all time highs. I'd like to see a breakdown of who's buying stocks/equities. EDIT: I know earnings are high, but much of our growth over the last 20 years has been during 2-4% GDP deficit. I don't think that's been priced into the markets. Markets may be assuming that the deficit party will continue.

The stock market was posting all time highs all the way up until a month before the 1929 crash that started the great depression.
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