RALEIGH – Announcements of companies making layoffs or slowing hiring continue, as thousands of North Carolina workers have been or may soon be affected.

That includes recent announcements from tech giant Oracle, which reportedly will make thousands of job cuts, and from Shopify, which will layoff 10% of its workforce.  It’s not just technology, as there will also be layoffs at Biogen, which has a large Triangle presence, and the genetics firm Invitae which could lay off more than 1,000 workers.

Multiple reports outline Oracle’s decision to lay off thousands of workers

Other companies, too

But it also includes companies that may not be household names, such as the cargo services firm LGSTX Cargo Services that will be laying off more than 150 North Carolina workers.

Or, Ribbon, which as recently as September 2021 maintained a significant employee presence in the state and planned to expand.

Now, though, the venture-backed real estate technology company is laying off 136 workers or roughly one-third of its workforce, according to a report from Inman.

Startup Cuts

Additionally, more than two dozen global startups have announced layoffs since July 25, according to layoffs.fyi, which has been tracking and aggregating all technology startup layoffs since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Biggest cuts disclosed so far in the Triangle is the letting go of Durham startup Adwerx, which cut 40 workers.

The database shows that globally, 61,627 workers have been laid off in 2022, with 14,213 of those (or slightly more than 23%) coming in the month of July.  And this database doesn’t include companies like Microsoft, Oracle, or other established technology companies.

NC tech leaders grow more pessimistic about economy; 17.5% have implemented hiring freeze

Not just companies making layoffs

It’s not just layoffs that might impact North Carolina workers.  Slowed hiring could mean fewer job opportunities for workers who are laid off, or for those who are seeking to make a change ahead of a possible recession.

And multiple companies have already announced that they’ve frozen hiring or that the pace of hiring new workers has slowed.  That includes 17.5% of North Carolina technology companies surveyed recently by the North Carolina Technology Association, NC TECH, as a part of a quarterly survey of the state’s technology leaders.

Amazon, which despite surpassing analyst expectations during the second quarter, disclosed on the quarterly earnings call that the company has 100,000 fewer employees than the prior quarter.  Bloomberg reported that the company was “relying on attrition to winnow its staff,” though the company is hiring for 115 jobs in the Triangle according to its webpage.

It also includes Google and Apple, both of which announced big campuses in the Triangle in 2021 and have now disclosed that they’ll slow hiring, according to a Bloomberg report.  And it also includes Microsoft, which has announced layoffs and that it has slowed hiring, two months after requesting to be released from a $20 million incentives package through a job development investment grant with the state of North Carolina.

Layoff Watch: Job cuts are beginning to mount across NC – here’s the latest

Most recent companies making layoffs

Here’s what’s changed since the last WRAL TechWire Layoff Watch:

  • Aug. 1 – Oracle reportedly to lay off thousands of workers
  • July 29 – Cargo services firm in Charlotte cutting 154 workers
  • July 27 – The latest survey results from NC TECH show that 1.6% of surveyed companies have laid off, considered making layoffs, or furloughed workers, and another 17.5% have already implemented a hiring freeze.
  • July 27 – Automaker Rivian will lay off about 6% of its workforce, the founder and CEO sent in an email to employees (TechCrunch report.)
  • July 26 – Layoffs at Shopify, with approximately 10% of global workforce slashed

Other recent reports:

  • Invitae announced it planned to lay off as many as 1,000 workers globally and Arrival, with a North American headquarters in Charlotte, announced it could cut 30% of its staff in the coming months.
  • Microsoft, which as recently as last month, told WRAL TechWire that it was hiring for hundreds of positions locally in the Triangle, has now also announced that it will cut hundreds of jobs, and the WRAL TechWire Jobs Report shows a drop off in the number of openings locally at the firm.
  • Peloton, which had something of its own pandemic boom and bought a North Carolina company previously, announced it would no longer manufacture its own stationary exercise bicycles, and would lay off some 600 workers.
  • And Biogen, which has a big presence in RTP, announced layoffs in a move to reduce costs last week, as well.
  • Earlier this month, technology startup Adwerx announced it would lay off 40 workers, citing “macroeconomic uncertainty.”