Big tech companies stop hiring new employees for fear of recession

And Spotify isn’t the only company that has slowed down a bit. The parent company of Facebook Meta, Twitter, Uber, Snap and Lyft also says it’s hiring fewer people than before. For example, Meta will stop hiring data scientists and recruiters for now, and Uber and Twitter will stop hiring new people entirely. Netflix has announced that it will lay off 150 people.

This trend may also have (limited) consequences for Dutch IT professionals, as many tech companies also have a Dutch subsidiary or Dutch employees.

Fear of stagnation

The reason why companies hire fewer new people or not at all is the fear of recession. As in the Netherlands, the US is also experiencing rising inflation and higher interest rates. So the business world in the US fears a slowdown in the economy. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty,” Kyle Stanford, an analyst at analyst firm PitchBook, told the Financial Times. “Will it be a complete recession? Or is it just a small setback?” The answer will take some time, but companies are already taking precautions.