Where are all of those laid-off workers going? (Photo: Careerminds)
Laid-off workers have increased recently, with technology firms that thrived during the pandemic laying off tens of thousands of workers.
So, where are all of those laid-off workers going? Over half of those laid off in December or January have already found other work, while another quarter has a job offer.
Workers laid off in the advertising, auto, and transportation industries were the most likely to have received a job offer since their layoff. Surprisingly, 80% of workers who found new jobs after being laid off said they did not have to take a pay cut.
One-third of laid-off workers who were offered severance said the money lasted them an average of 16 weeks — longer than the current median length of unemployment, which is just over nine weeks.
The findings also shed light on one perplexing aspect of the United States’ economy today: Despite alarming headlines about laid-off workers, the United States is not rising.
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Indeed, the labor market remains unusually constrained. Before the pandemic, about 1.6 million workers were laid off or fired every month; now, that number is down to 1.4 million, indicating how eager businesses are to retain workers. The nation’s unemployment rate of 3.4% is the lowest since 1969, and hiring remains strong despite the slowing economy. Despite the flurry of layoffs, unemployment claims have barely moved.
Employers who have laid off employees are concentrated in a few industries. Job cuts were concentrated in finance, construction, technology, and real estate, relative to their share of the overall workforce. Customer service, sales, information technology, and operations employees were more likely to be laid off than those in other functions in each industry.
To be sure, being laid off can be a devastating experience. People who lose their job unexpectedly are more likely to commit suicide. Against that backdrop, the current round of layoffs appears relatively benign.
The laid-off workers have been geographically dispersed, which means that newly unemployed workers are not competing with one another for jobs and may find a new job more quickly than in previous downturns.
Most of the workers polled expressed little resentment toward the company that fired them, saying they would return to work there if given a chance.
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