US Tech Travels

After Meta, it is now Amazon that seems set to reduce its workforce with over 10,000 job cuts reportedly on the cards. It’s a big step, but not the only one. Other US tech firms have either announced or are considering such downsizing. For example, Twitter laid off 3,700 employees, or nearly half of its workforce. Elon Musk, its new owner, who calls himself the platform’s ‘Chief Tweet’, even went so far as to publicly dismiss at least one engineer fired by a tweet for questioning its facts. When firings happen in such inconsiderate ways, it certainly is a deep problem for the global technology industry to consider. The root cause of its pain was the huge bets these companies made during the time of the pandemic to jumpstart their business, which did not materialise. Covid reshaped our work and personal lives in a big way, but expectations of complete virtual immersion were misplaced. Apologies have been issued by business leaders for the miscalculation, but cynics cannot be spared who wonder whether these layoffs were seen as a post-pandemic phenomenon. America is addicted to the labor market for hire and out-of-work. But it plays very badly in a place like India.