美国国家公共电台 NPR--Job cuts are rolling in. Here's who is feeling the most pain so far

Job cuts are rolling in. Here's who is feeling the most pain so far

Transcript¹

The dominos are starting to fall in the U.S. economy.

As the Federal Reserve pumps the brakes on the economy, many American companies are retrenching². There is a growing fear that as the central bank aggressively hikes interest rates to fight high inflation, it could tip the U.S. economy into a recession, and executives are cutting back.

A host of companies have announced job cuts or hiring freezes in just the last two weeks. They range from Tesla and JPMorgan Chase to Redfin and Coinbase.

Netflix last week announced a second round of job cuts for the year, this time eliminating around 300 positions. Earlier this year, the entertainment company announced it had lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. Since then, Netflix has eliminated roughly 450 positions.

A key question on the minds of many economists³ is whether this is the tip of the iceberg⁴ with a lot more job cuts coming, or whether it will stop here – a much-needed froth clearing from a sizzling economy.

Job market is "unsustainably hot," says Fed chief

Fed Chair Jerome Powell says he and his colleagues are trying to stabilize⁵ a job market that is "unsustainably hot." Wages have been rising at a fast clip in an economy where the unemployment rate is at 3.6%, which is very close to its pre-pandemic low.

"You have two job vacancies⁶ essentially⁷ for every person actively⁸ seeking a job, and that has led to a real imbalance in wage negotiating," Powell said when answering questions at a press conference two weeks ago.

The Fed chair is aware of the pain that will be inflicted⁹ on more people as he wrestles¹⁰ with inflation and tries to tame it.

"We don't seek to put people out of work," he said. "But we also think that you really cannot have the kind of labor¹¹ market we want without price stability."

So far, the job cuts have been mostly contained to a few industries, according to Andy Challenger, senior vice¹² president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company that tracks layoffs¹⁴ nationwide.

"We haven't seen a huge amount of cuts yet," he says. "But we're seeing these large increases in layoffs in a handful of industries that seem to us to be potential bellwethers¹⁵ for the rest of the economy if things slow down significantly in the next few weeks and months."

Pandemic darlings are cutting the most

A lot of recent layoffs have come from what have been hot, high-growth parts of the economy that did especially well during the pandemic.

For instance, the exercise equipment company Peloton took off when gyms closed. Similarly, Netflix's popularity soared when people were stuck at home, binge-watching TV shows and movies.

But now, people are going out for entertainment, movie theaters and gyms are open, and fewer people need expensive exercise bikes. In February, Peloton's CEO stepped down, and the company cut almost 3,000 jobs.

Similarly, the trading app Robinhood attracted millions of investors¹⁶, who opened new accounts during the pandemic. People were flush with money from big stimulus¹⁷ checks from the federal government. Others saw bank balances balloon from reduced travel and eating at home. The stock market was hot and many wanted to trade.

Robinhood hired aggressively to keep up with this growth, growing six-fold, from 700 people to around 3,800, CEO Vlad Tenev said.

Two months ago, Robinhood laid off 9% of its staff. Tenev said he is now scrutinizing¹⁸ the company's headcount growth targets.

"Doing so enables us to be more resilient in hard times, and stronger during the good," he said in a memo¹⁹ to Robinhood employees.

Tech, housing, crypto are other layoff¹³ hotspots

Tesla CEO Elon Musk²⁰, who reportedly told employees he had a "super bad feeling" about the economy, announced plans to cut the car company's salaried workforce²¹ by around 10%.

Several other tech companies, including Cameo, Carvana, and the payment business Bolt, have also reduced staff.

Perhaps no industry exemplifies the speculative²² exuberance²³ of the last few years than crypto, which ballooned in size as the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged. But in June, during a sharp sell-off, a number of crypto companies scaled back.

Crypto.com reduced its staff by 5%, and Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, reduced its headcount by 10%. Coinbase, which operates one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, laid off more than 1,000 people, or close to 20% of its workers.

"We grew too quickly," CEO Brian Armstrong told his employees. "Our employee costs are too high to effectively manage this uncertain market."

As mortgage rates rise at the fastest pace in history, heads roll at home lenders

Another part of the economy that went gangbusters during the pandemic was the housing market. As the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero, borrowing costs were cheap, and many people were looking to move.

But this year, the housing landscape has changed dramatically. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is approaching 6%, compared to just over 3% at the start of the year. There has been a decline in applications for mortgages, as a result, and there also have been industry job cuts.

JPMorgan Chase is laying off hundreds of employees that work on home lending. The staffing decision "was a result of cyclical changes in the mortgage market," according Shannon O'Reilly, a spokeswoman for the bank.

Earlier this month, the real estate broker²⁴ Compass cut 450 employees, or about 10% of its staff, and Redfin reduced its overall headcount by 8%.

"A layoff is always an awful shock, especially when I've said that we'd go through heck to avoid one," wrote Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, in a memo to staff. "But mortgage rates increased faster than at any point in history."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 retrenching   

v.紧缩开支( retrench的现在分词 )；削减（费用）；节省

参考例句：

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

5 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

6 vacancies   

n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺

参考例句：

• job vacancies 职位空缺
• The sign outside the motel said \"No Vacancies\". 汽车旅馆外的招牌显示“客满”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

10 wrestles   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的第三人称单数 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• The book also wrestles with the idea of individualism. 书中也与个人英雄主义的观念进行搏斗。 来自互联网
• He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. 和我们搏斗的人锻炼了我们的勇气，磨练了我们的技能。 来自互联网

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

13 layoff   

n.临时解雇，操作停止，活动停止期间，失业期

参考例句：

• Finally, prepare an explanation about what led to your layoff.最后，要准备好一套说辞来解释你被解雇的原因。
• Workers were re-employed after the layoff.在暂时解雇不久后工人们又被再度雇用了。

14 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

15 bellwethers   

n.系铃的公羊( bellwether的名词复数 )；前导；领导者；群众的首领

参考例句：

• Two bellwethers- -Apple and Yahoo- -announced their third-quarter earnings after close of trading Tuesday afternoon. 两只领头羊-苹果和雅虎-宣布其第三季度盈馀后，周二下午收盘。 来自互联网

16 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

17 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

18 scrutinizing   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His grandfather's stern eyes were scrutinizing him, and Chueh-hui felt his face reddening. 祖父的严厉的眼光射在他的脸上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The machine hushed, extraction and injection nozzles poised, scrutinizing its targets. 机器“嘘”地一声静了下来，输入输出管道各就各位，检查着它的目标。 来自互联网

19 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

20 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

21 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

22 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

23 exuberance   

n.丰富；繁荣

参考例句：

• Her burst of exuberance and her brightness overwhelmed me.她勃发的热情和阳光的性格征服了我。
• The sheer exuberance of the sculpture was exhilarating.那尊雕塑表现出的勃勃生机让人振奋。

24 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。