Mass layoffs could be a thing of the past: Companies aren’t as quick to let go of employees as they once were when times get tough as rehiring proves difficult, Axios writes. This comes after a significant uptick in layoffs — during the early days of the Covid pandemic employers let go of a whopping 13.5 mn employees, the highest number in the past 24 years.

What changed their mind? When the economy started recovering from the pandemic and companies started looking to fill up newly-vacant positions, the process proved to be daunting. There weren’t enough people to hire, which led to a widespread worker shortage in 2022. This seems to have pushed employers to hold on to their employees despite recession concerns and rate hikes. “It took me so long to get this labor force, I'm not letting them go,” one manager told Axios.

Slowly but surely. In 2019, the US saw an average of 1.9 mn employees laid off every month. This year, the figure dropped to 1.6 mn, according to official data.

Don’t celebrate yet. This still doesn’t mean the labor market is thriving. In a report released last month, labor market information data center Lightcast warns that “US employees will soon face the largest labor shortage the country has ever seen,” citing falling childbirth rates and the retirement of Baby Boomers. Younger generations have also shown a greater interest in office-based jobs requiring a college degree and there has been a decline in working-age men in the workforce. This puts risk on industries that AI can’t salvage like healthcare and retail.

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