Tech layoffs are rampant
Pubnews: Tech layoffs are rampant. Singapore’s labor market has been hit by massive layoffs as a result of rising inflation, high-interest rates, and consumer spending pressure. Due to the negative impact of the global economy, technology companies in most countries around the world, including Singapore, have reduced staff recruitment on the one hand, and many companies are also forced to lay off workers. News NDTV.
Social media parent company Meta recently announced layoffs of 13 percent of its global workforce or about 11,000 workers. The massive layoffs are the biggest layoffs on record for the one-and-a-half-year-old tech giant, with its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore not spared. According to media reports, at least 100 of the 1,000 employees in the Singapore office have been laid off, most of them tech workers and software engineers.
Statistics from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower show that in 2021, 177,100 expatriate workers received ‘Employment Passholders’, of which about 45,000 workers were from India. Employment pass holders are highly qualified foreign professional workers who are permitted to work in Singapore. These workers are required to earn at least S$5,000 per month.
Many of those affected by layoffs in Singapore’s labor market is not just MTA workers. This happened in other technology institutes too. Many of the tech giants that have regional headquarters in Singapore are currently laying off or downsizing due to slowing consumer spending, high-interest rates, and inflation.
Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce powerhouse C Ltd, the parent company of Garena (maker of games like League of Legends and Free Fire) and Shopee issued two rounds of layoffs and job notices in June and September this year. According to the company’s latest annual report, C Limited’s workforce in 2021 was 67,300, double that of 2020.
After posting a net loss of $93.1 million in the second quarter of this year and amid rising borrowing costs and a slowing global economy, the company has made several decisions to make its international and marginal businesses profitable, including layoffs. However, the number of layoffs has not been disclosed by the company. However, the number of job losses in Singapore and offices around the world is expected to reach thousands.
Singapore-based digital wealth management firm Stashaway is among the companies that have downsized in Southeast Asia in the middle of this year. The company laid off about 14 percent of its workforce. In addition, digital currency exchange crypto.com has cut 260 jobs or 5 percent of its workforce in Singapore.
