Visualizing major layoffs in corporate America
Hiring freezes and layoffs are becoming more common in 2022 as U.S. businesses look to cut costs ahead of a potential recession.
Understandably, this has many people worried. In June 2022, Insight Global revealed that 78% American workers fear losing their jobs in the next recession. For more, 56% they said that they are not financially prepared and 54% said they would take a pay cut to avoid layoffs.
In this infographic, we’ve visualized the major layoffs announced in 2022 by US publicly traded corporations.
Note: Due to gaps in reporting, as well as the very large number of US corporations, this list may not be comprehensive.
An emerging trend
Layoffs have increased significantly since April of this year. See the table below for high-profile cases of mass layoffs.
| company | industry | Layoffs (#) | month |
|---|---|---|---|
| The peloton | Consumer Discretion | 2800 | February |
| Funko | Consumer Discretion | 258 | APRIL |
| Robin Hood | Financial services | ~ 400 | APRIL |
| Nectar Therapeutics | Biotechnology | 500 | APRIL |
| Caravan | automotive | 2500 | Can |
| In home | Financial services | 310 | Can |
| JP Morgan Chase & Co. | Financial services | ~500 | JUNE |
| Tesla | automotive | 200 | JUNE |
| Coinbase | Financial services | 1100 | JUNE |
| Netflix | technology | 300 | JUNE |
| CVS Health | pharmaceutical | 208 | JUNE |
| StartTek | technology | 472 | JUNE |
| Ford | automotive | 8000 | July |
| Rivian | automotive | 840 | July |
| The peloton | Consumer Discretion | 2000 | July |
| Loan Warehouse | Financial services | 2000 | July |
| Invite | Biotechnology | 1000 | July |
| Lyft | technology | 60 | July |
| Meta | technology | 350 | July |
| I tweet | technology | July | |
| Vimeo | technology | 72 | July |
| Robin Hood | Financial services | ~ 795 | August |
Here’s a brief summary of these layoffs, sorted by industry.
automotive
Ford has announced its largest round of layoffs this year, reaching approx 8000 salaried employees. Many of these jobs are in Ford’s legacy combustion engine business. According to CEO Jim Farley, these cuts are necessary to fund the company’s transition to EVs.
We have absolutely too many people in some places, no doubt about it.
– Jim Farley, CEO, Ford
Speaking of EVs, Rivian laid off 840 employees in July, which amounts to 6% from its total workforce. The EV startup pointed to inflation, rising interest rates and rising commodity prices as factors. The firm’s most established competitor, TeslaCUTTING 200 work from its autopilot division in the previous month.
Last but not least is the online used car dealer, Caravanwhich cut 2500 work in May. The company experienced rapid growth during the pandemic, but has since fallen out of favor. Year-to-date, the company’s shares have fallen more than 80%.
Financial services
Fearing an impending recession, Coinbase it has poured 1100 employees, or 18% from its total workforce. Interestingly, Coinbase does not have a physical headquarters, which means that the entire company operates remotely.
A recession could lead to another crypto winter and it could last for a long period. In past crypto winters, trading revenues fell sharply.
Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase
Around the same time, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced that it would lay off hundreds of home loan employees. While an exact number is not available, we have estimated it to be approx 500 jobs, based on the original Bloomberg article. Wells Fargoanother major US bank has also cut back 197 work from its home mortgage division.
The main reason for these cuts is the increase in mortgage rates, which are negatively affecting the demand for houses.
technology
Within technology, Meta AND I tweet are two of the most high-profile companies that have begun making layoffs. In Meta’s case, 350 custodial staff has been let go due to reduced use of the company’s offices.
However, many more cuts are expected, as Facebook recently reported its first revenue decline in 10 years. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he expects the company to do more with fewer resources, and managers have been encouraged to report “underperformers” for “company failure.”
Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people in the company who shouldn’t be here.
– Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta
Also in July, Twitter was laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team. An exact number was not available, but the team was estimated to have fewer than 100 employees. The company has also enacted a hiring freeze after thwarting a failed acquisition by Elon Musk.
More layoffs to come…
Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the rest of this year as metrics such as consumer sentiment begin to decline. The increase in interest rates also has a negative impact on growth, which makes it more expensive for businesses to get money.
In fact just a few days ago, the trading platform Robin Hood announced that he was being released 23% of its staff. After accounting for the previous layoffs in April (9% of the workforce), it is fair to estimate that this latest round will affect almost 800 people.