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Tech companies, from Meta and Twitter to Amazon and Shopee, are making massive layoffs, but tech professionals are still in demand as companies of all faiths work to develop their digital skills.
Analysts told CNA that business and hiring hotspots remain, even as parts of the tech industry cool amid rising inflation and interest rates and post-pandemic changes.
Ng Weiyi, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, said: “The days when only three left-wingers, right-wingers and centrists were hired for fear of losing talent will probably stop for a while.”
Fintech startups, which rely heavily on venture capital and private equity for funding, are likely to see employers become “more tax conscious,” he said.
E-commerce giant Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 of her employees. Singapore-based online marketplace Shopee has implemented three cuts since June this year involving employees in its grocery delivery and online payments team.
Following several high-profile layoffs that have affected Singapore’s tech sector, the supply of job seekers has increased and so has competition. Facebook’s parent company Meta, which has laid off more than 11,000 employees worldwide, has laid off dozens of employees across marketing and engineering departments in Singapore. Twitter has cut half of its global workforce, or about 3,700 employees, but it’s unclear how many were affected in Singapore.
Both companies have not responded to inquiries about the number of employees in Singapore affected. Ng says the larger pool of technical talent now available for hire will allow companies to determine terms of employment, which may ultimately pay employees less.
But even outside the startup world, companies that weren’t traditionally considered tech companies, such as banks, are looking to deepen their digital skills. Tech layoffs are a boon to them and can also provide new opportunities for tech job seekers.
Associate Professor Ng said: “We are now seeing an opportunity to recruit top tech talent that was attracted by very attractive compensation packages offered by venture capital backed companies.”
Yorlin Ng, his COO of the venture firm Momentum Works, said this is a great opportunity for large tech companies to grow to non-tech companies and start-ups that want to innovate and can now grab the talent. He said it was a positive sign of layoffs.