Ride-hailing giant Lyft has become the latest company to announce significant layoffs.
In an April 21 posting on Lyft’s corporate blog, CEO David Risher said he would “significantly reduce the size of the team” as part of a broader restructuring, with the cuts set to go into effect April 27. Laid-off employees will receive at least 10 weeks of pay, along with healthcare coverage through the end of October and accelerated equity vesting.
“We need to be a faster, flatter company where everyone is closer to our riders and drivers so we can deliver on this purpose,” Risher wrote. “And we need to bring our costs down to deliver affordable rides, compelling earnings for drivers, and profitable growth. We intend to use these savings to invest in competitive pricing, faster pick-up times, and better driver earnings. All of these require us to reduce our size and restructure how we’re organized.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Lyft will cut roughly 30 percent of its workforce, or 1,200 employees. This is the second big round of layoffs at Lyft in the past 12 months: in November, it cut 680 employees, which at the time represented around 13 percent of its staff.
Lyft isn’t alone in launching layoffs, of course. Some of the biggest names in tech, from Amazon to Google and Microsoft, have collectively slashed thousands of jobs over the past several months. During the pandemic, these tech giants saw their revenue and profits jump as consumers and companies spent more on e-commerce and cloud-based apps; but widespread fears of a recession have led many customers to pull back on spending, forcing the giants to readjust.
However, those tech giants don’t represent the entire tech economy. The tech unemployment rate remained steady at 2.2 percent in March, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data as analyzed by CompTIA. That’s not only low by historical standards; it also suggests that organizations across the economy want tech professionals for a variety of functions. If you have the right skills and experience, chances are good there’s a position open for you.
