Fed’s Slowdown Isn’t Getting Much Help From Big Tech
Companies are shielding their workforces from efforts to cool inflation, squeezing profit with the hope of a faster recovery later.
Still hiring.
Photographer: Sean Rayford/Getty Images
All the tightening moves by the Federal Reserve this year to rein in inflation are supposed to lead to less hiring and spending by companies. But there is no law that says the biggest, most profitable companies have to cut back if they don't feel like it. And the cuts showing up in this quarter's earnings reports from the biggest tech companies amount to going from three scoops of ice cream to two.
If you’re wondering why employment growth has been robust despite the warning signs in financial markets, the structural change in Silicon Valley that’s happened since the early 2000s dot-com bust is a big part of it.