The so-called gig Economy has opened again as more workers have become available following layoffs in the United States and other countries, including at big tech companies like Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), and Amazon now trying to adjust to an ever-changing consumer behavior.
In 2020, tech companies hired faster and became more aggressive in their operations as more people were returning to physical offices, attending to their physical hobbies, and basically socializing again despite the still-present Covid-19.
China has welcomed tourists and demand for digital recreation has declined due to the disappearance (or lessening) of mandatory lockdowns worldwide. Mobility in borders has also increased and people are returning to traveling.
Tech.Co has created a timeline of the workforce that were affected by each of the tech companies since 2022. Here is a sample numerical breakdown of what transpired this year alone:
As of January 26, SAP — 3,000 jobs
As of January 25, IBM — 3,900 jobs
As of January 24, Intel — 544 jobs
As of January 23, Spotify — 600 staff
As of January 20, Alphabet (Google) — 12,000 staff
As of January 18, Microsoft — 10,000 staff
As of January 11, Goldman Sachs — 3,200 staff
As of January 5, Amazon — 18,000 staff
Vlogs and news organizations explaining these decisions also point toward a possible recession in the US in the coming months as well as a drop in revenues. The privacy policies of another big tech firm, Apple, are also to blame as their customers are given a choice whether or not to allow tracking systems to monitor their online behavior when using Apple devices.
The easing of restrictions in 2022 and this year is in stark contrast with how people behaved in 2020 and 2021. Here’s a perspective on the Philippine digital consumer behavior two years ago. This is from Euromonitor International, an international strategic market research organization that provides data on research, information, and market trends.
1. Prolonged lockdown drives sales through e-commerce in 2020.
2. SMEs place growing focus on e-commerce to generate income.
3. Retailers introduce digital personal shopper services to help overcome the challenges of the lockdown.
4. Mobile wallets continue to see growing user base.
These trends were popular for the first two years of the pandemic, especially since a lot of stores were not operational or worse, permanently closed. While international tourism has yet to bounce back as of this writing, there is a lot of potential for the industry to regain strength as more people are again exploring and resuming their travel plans.
Going back to my initial premise on the gig economy, a lot of opportunities are available online as more digital workers also have more choices when it comes to employment. I recently went to Siargao and was seated beside a foreigner who was being interviewed for a flexible and remote work schedule in the field of medicine.
This will now be the norm in the next several years but with the onset of a significant development in the field of Artificial Intelligence, career choices may become limited soon as well.