As the Covid-19 pandemic eased in early 2021, Google became a hiring machine. The Mountain View, California-based internet search giant was at the head of the pack of the tech industry’s powerful recovery from the dark days of lockdowns.
My how things can change in just a few short weeks, however. Over the past month or so, the tech industry’s massive hiring spurt has slowed to a trickle. There are reports of lucrative tech job offers being rescinded, such as at crypto exchange Coinbase. Layoffs are also reportedly in the offing at one-click checkout unicorn Bolt and buy-now-pay-later fintech Klarna.
So what of Google, the reliable mainstay of the tech and internet-based economy? Well, things appear to have hit a rough patch there, too.
According to information gathered by Thinknum Alternative Data, Google parent Alphabet’s job listings zoomed up from about 2,770 in January 2021 to a peak of about 15,800 on April 27, 2022. But since then the picture has changed significantly.
Over the past month or so, job postings have been roughly flat, and have started to drop just within the past few days. The number was about 15,400 on June 5.
As apparent on this chart, Alphabet’s job listings have plateaued and begun to slide as its stock price has plunged. Stock prices in tech have taken a particularly harsh beating over the past several weeks.
At the same time, growth in overall headcount, based on how LinkedIn users identify themselves, has also flattened over the past few months, according to Thinknum. A year ago, Alphabet’s stock price was still rising quickly, even faster than its headcount. But those trends shifted over the past couple of months.
Similar trends have played out for other tech industry giants Apple and Amazon, according to Thinknum job listings data. All three companies are no longer growing their hiring demand, based on the data.
Within the past month, job listings have decreased for both Amazon and Google, while they remain about flat for Apple.
