As AI Transforms Silicon Valley, Some Tech Workers Face Evaporating Financial Security (adn.com)
- Reference: 0184515288
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/07/20/0212244/as-ai-transforms-silicon-valley-some-tech-workers-face-evaporating-financial-security
- Source link: https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2026/07/19/the-biggest-winners-of-the-american-economy-fear-theyre-sinking-fast/
> Layoffs.fyi, which tracks announced job cuts, counts more than 800,000 tech workers laid off since 2022, including large staff reductions in recent months at Meta, Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon... "There's this whole tranche of people who've been quite used to being among the most upwardly mobile in society who are all of a sudden saying, 'Now I'm the guy on the streetâs'" said Oliver Raskin, who founded Silicon Valley market research consultancy Signalcraft Insights and has surveyed attitudes in the tech labor force... "The rise of AI, especially, is bound to change the workplace radically," [said Georgetown University historian Joseph McCartin]. "But the way it's going to happen is similar to how technology transformed the auto industry." Ruth Milkman, a labor sociologist at the City University of New York, said that technology workers are getting a dose of what workers in other industries have long complained about: jobs that feel unsteady or rob them of autonomy. "Low-wage workers are used to it," she said...
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> Many layoffs at technology companies are probably a hangover effect from over-hiring in prior years, experts say. And they don't account for a spotty recent increase in hiring in the information industry, which includes employment of software developers and jobs in media and entertainment. Digging deeper, though, some economists say there are signs that Silicon Valley and other technology-reliant parts of the American economy have reached a turning point where they are growing without needing as many people. The notion was encapsulated in a recent talk that ricocheted through group chats across the tech industry: In it, a partner at the start-up incubator Y Combinator heralded a new generation of AI-first companies that will only need human labor for "novel situations," "ethical considerations" and "high-stakes moments."
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> Gad Levanon, chief economist at the labor research nonprofit Burning Glass Institute, said that the number of hours worked in the information sector has dipped since 2022, while the sector's economic output has increased by about 8 percent a year — more than three times the overall growth rate of the U.S. economy. He says the data reveals a sea change in industries, including technology and finance, toward doing more work with the same or fewer people — one that is spreading to other professional classes. "That's the new reality for white-collar and tech-exposed work: output up, headcount flat or down," Levanon said...
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> Raskin, who has worked in the tech world since the late '90s, said that even though the current moment feels unsettling to many, he's hopeful that it's an early chapter in an evolving story. "It's happened many times before," he said, "that something implodes and all these people lose jobs, but then that talent gets cycled into whatever the next thing is — into a new wave of prosperity."
In the article tech entrepreneur Anil Dash quips that Silicon Valley techies are "are guinea pigs for what tech dudes want to do to everyone."
[1] https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2026/07/19/the-biggest-winners-of-the-american-economy-fear-theyre-sinking-fast/
Pretty spot on... (Score:3)
I'm also one of the "winners" of Silicon Valley fortunate enough to achieve complete financial independence a few years ago. If I wanted to return to the workforce today, jobs I used to have look like four jobs combined....because you have Claude you can do it all! Startup working hours are more brutal...some companies doing the dreaded 996, most just consuming your entire day into the evening at full nonstop bandwidth. My former employees text me all the time looking for new jobs, as work has gotten harder and pay hasn't gone up, but I hear of little to recommend to them. People are scared to quit jobs even as they get harder and somewhat more abusive. It's the polar opposite of 2021 where employees were demanding more of companies, higher pay, and changing jobs in droves.
Saving? (Score:3, Insightful)
A surprisingly large number of people don't seem to understand the basic principle of building wealth and financial security:
Always live below your means. This way you can build your savings and create a financial cushion and if something happens you're not immediately out on the street with a suitcase.
Furthermore, while it's very easy to increase your standard of living, and it's very difficult to decrease it.
Re: (Score:2)
As a Boglehead investor I agree 100 percent and would add: Don't lose your money to speculative investments. That said people who work at Meta as the article mentions don't get windfalls, they get high salaries. A basic house in the area can run $2mm, so they take out mortgages thinking they'll always be making over 300k. I, coming from a working class family background, knew better and waited to buy until I could pay upfront. The people I bought from? Huge mortgage they couldn't pay made them sell.
Re: (Score:3)
You are right that many, many people don't understand these basic principles of personal finance management. It is not commonly taught in schools, and ignorance of this tends to run in families, along with irrational fears about investing (due to the same ignorance).
BUT
Economically speaking, we need it to be that way. If the vast majority of Americans lived frugally, saving some money for emergencies and investing most of the rest of their money in diversified stocks and bonds, spending only what they nee
If you wanted to induce sympathy (Score:4, Interesting)
...the article shouldn't mention the woes of someone who worked for Meta.
When you work for a particularly evil company, you know what you're signing up for - screwing everyone over else for a buck. I'm not going to cry for you when you find out the company doesn't see a big difference between you and me.
Disgruntled Masses (Score:2)
I wonder how much it would take to cause a revolution.
The labouring classes have been disgruntled for a few decades now, arguably resulting in a Trump presidency.
If the same happens to the white collar workers, that would make a significant proportion of the American population who are not happy with the way the economy, and "system", is treating them.
At what point do the masses start scaling the gates of the rich...?
I don't imagine a literal surge of looting and robbery, but there might be more support for
Fair Warning (Score:2)
"the number of hours worked in the information sector has dipped since 2022, while the sector's economic output has increased by about 8 percent a year".
I told you so. :)
[1]https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/2... [scry.llc]
"The real cause of economic depressions is the mismatch between production time and consumption time which occurs gradually as productivity rises. Governments then create make-work jobs in a haphazard attempt to maintain consumption (equilibrium). Eventually, the impedance mismatch leads to collapse and a ne
[1] https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/27/work-week/
Re: (Score:2)
There won't be any money to hire you after the bubble pops. We'll potentially enter a recession that lasts for a few quarters or perhaps a few years.
AI fraudsters that tricked millions of middle class retirement account managers to invest in the wrong* AI companies are going to come out ahead of course.
* I say wrong companies, because I don't believe anyone can pick the winners right now.
"Chief Slop Janitor" (Score:2)
Probably. Quality is not bots' strong point so far and maintenance is almost always the most costly part of software.