Alten Capital’s focus on business services and technology services companies makes us look at what is going on in the talent market, especially for technology professionals.
During the early part of 2023 we saw a spike in tech layoffs announcements and we started to track this data from Layoffs.fyi (https://layoffs.fyi/). A Q2 update below.
Q1 2023 seems to have been a peak in tech layoff announcements worldwide as Q2 is showing less than 30% of employees laid-off (~44,000 in Q2 vs. ~160,000 in Q1) from roughly half the number of companies (~270 in Q2 vs. ~590 in Q1). The absolute numbers may be off month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter, but the data trends are relevant and can be insightful.
We had mentioned in our Q1 update (https://alten.capital/blog/tech-layoffs-q1-update) that the tech industry typically reacts promptly to macro changes. This was reflected in quick actions to right-size their teams in Q1 based on macro headlines vs. Q2, which showed less layoff activity.
On a monthly basis, we continue to see lower number of tech employees being laid-off every month since January 2023. The trend is encouraging.
Overall unemployment in the US ticked up from 3.5% at the end of Q1 to a 3.7% reading currently. Employment continues to be solid.
In summary, organizations continued to scale back their right-sizing plans during Q2. At Alten Capital we focus on scaling talent-based business services and technology services companies. Please reach out to us to explore partnership opportunities.