900+ Bay Area Tech Jobs Slashed In Climbing Layoffs

BAY AREA, CA — In another tidal wave of layoffs, Twitter, GoFundMe and nearly a dozen other tech companies have announced plans to slash more than 900 Bay Area jobs, according to the state's employment department.

Plans to cut 913 tech and biotech jobs were unveiled in filings with the state Employment Development Department on Tuesday.

Tech companies Twitter, Meta Platforms, GoFundMe, Coursera, Western Digital, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Aerotek at Flex, Intercom, Asana and Synthego were among those that announced layoffs.

The news comes after Twitter announced plans to chop hundreds of jobs earlier this month. After this second wave of cutbacks, at least 1,126 Bay Area jobs will be eliminated from the company, according to EDD filings.

But the largest layoffs are happening at Facebook app owner Meta Platforms, which will chop 2,564 jobs in the Bay Area, according to EDD WARN filings analyzed by the Mercury News. The tech giant will also slash jobs in Los Angeles.

Here are some of the most notable job cuts across the Bay Area this month:

236 jobs cut from Twitter — 214 in San Francisco and 22 in San Jose.

189 positions cut from Western Digital — 103 in San Jose and 86 in Milpitas.

105 jobs in Redwood City lost at Synthego.

97 positions cut from Asana in San Francisco.

95 jobs cut from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

77 jobs slashed at Coursera in Mountain View.

55 jobs chopped at Intercom in San Francisco.

48 jobs lost at Aerotek at Flex in Milpitas.

11 jobs slashed from GoFundMe in San Francisco.

Layoffs have swirled around the state as the tech job market took a recent tumble. The newest round of layoffs could further jostle the state's wobbly economic situation. Tech work accounts for 18 percent of California's economy, according to the annual Cyberstates study.

Mass job cuts come as inflation cools, making way for a potential recession in California — one that may coincide with a projected $25 billion budget deficit next year.

The Democratic-controlled Golden State is typically among the first states to suffer budget issues when the economy starts to falter. That's because the state taxes rich people more than other states — and the wealthy don't make as much when the markets falter.

Unemployment remains low at 4 percent, but inflation has remained high.

READ MORE: CA Forecasts $25B Budget Deficit Next Year Amid 'Threat Of Recession'

Nationally, employers posted 10.3 million job vacancies in October, down from 10.7 million in September, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Even with the drop, openings were slightly lower in August, when they dipped below 10.3 million before rebounding the following month.

The number of people quitting their jobs also slipped in October, to 4 million from 4.1 million.

The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring the figures on job openings and quits for signals about the strength of the job market. The Fed is seeking to pull off a delicate task by slowing hiring and the broader economy to cool inflation, but not so much as to cause a recession.

While more job openings are a benefit for those seeking work, Fed officials would like to see the number of openings fall. That's because fewer openings would indicate less competition between businesses to find and keep workers, reducing pressure on them to raise wages.

Although employment in California remains strong, the high-wage tech industry has been roiled by a series of recent job cuts.

"The chances that the Federal Reserve can tame inflation without inducing a recession are narrow," according to an outlook released last week from the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office. "Reflecting the threat of a recession, our revenue estimates represent the weakest performance the state has experienced since the Great Recession."