A Wave of US Layoffs Flash Early Warning Sign for Job Market
The “labor hoarding” that kept US employers clinging to workers in the past few years appears to be coming to an end.
When Starbucks Corp. fired 900 corporate employees in September, economists hardly batted an eye. After all, the coffee chain had already done a February culling as part of new management’s drive to get the Frappuccino maker back on track. In October, Target Corp. eliminated 1,800 roles to help the beleaguered retailer move faster. For each corporate cutback, there’s been a clear explanation: Amazon.com (14,000 corporate jobs) blamed artificial intelligence; Paramount (1,000 workers) just completed a merger; Molson Coors (400 jobs) can’t get carb-conscious consumers to drink enough beer.
Separately, each announcement can be read as a one-off. Yet taken together, some economists worry that the recent spate of cuts is starting to look a little less like individual belt-tightening and more like a warning sign.