Amazon laid off thousands of workers eight months ago. Those workers remain unemployed. This constitutes news because apparently we've decided the natural consequences of termination qualify as journalism.
The labor market is saturated. Saturated means full. Full means there's no room. No room means the people Amazon fired can't find jobs. They had jobs. Amazon took the jobs away. Now they don't have jobs. Revolutionary stuff.
Burnout and frustration, the headline says. Workers who got fired feel bad about getting fired. Next we'll run a piece about how people who lose money in the stock market feel sad about losing money. Then we'll interview someone who bought AMZN calls the day before layoffs were announced and ask him to describe his emotional journey.
Eight-plus months. That's the timeframe. Could've just said eight months. Could've said nine months. But no. Eight-plus. As if the "plus" adds gravitas. As if those extra weeks of unemployment carry mystical significance that eight flat months wouldn't capture.
Here's what happened: Amazon hired too many people during a pandemic when everyone was buying garbage online. Then people stopped buying as much garbage online. Amazon looked at its headcount and said what the f*ck were we thinking. Then they fired people. The fired people tried to get new jobs. The new jobs didn't exist because every other tech company did the same thing Amazon did.
The most expansive job cuts ever, they're calling it. Expansive. Like the cuts had vision. Like Jeff Bezos personally curated each termination with an artist's touch.
You know what saturated labor markets are great for? Employers. You know who runs the stories about saturated labor markets? The same outlets that tell you to buy the dip every time your portfolio craters another 30%.
Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash
Leave a Comment