The wave of layoffs in the US technology industry is menacing.
Based on pessimistic expectations for future performance, Microsoft, Netflix, Meta, Twitter, PayPal, Snap and other US Internet giants have successively issued layoffs and frozen recruitment plans, and investment bank Piper Sandler predicts that in the future, the US market may see millions or more layoffs.
In order to reduce the high labor costs, more and more U.S. manufacturers are turning their attention to robots. According to the latest data, in the first quarter of this year, U.S. robot orders increased by 40%, a new high on record.
The "milk powder shortage" in the United States is also one of the problems that the US market is worried about. According to the latest data released by retail data company Datasembly, the out-of-stock rate of infant formula in the United States soared to 70% at one point. Among them, the shortage rate in Missouri, Minnesota and other regions even exceeds 80%.
In order to understand the urgent need, US President Biden and the US Food and Drug Administration "brought goods" Australian milk powder Bus Australia, which directly detonated the stock price of this milk powder company, which soared by more than 76% in an instant on May 30, and finally closed up more than 40%.
In addition, in terms of the progress of the new round of eu sanctions against Russia, on the evening of the 30th local time, European Council President Michel said on social media that the EU has reached a consensus on the implementation of an oil embargo on Russia, "which will immediately cover two-thirds of the oil imported from Russia by the EU." WTI crude oil futures pulled up more than 2.2% after the opening, the latest to 117.67 US dollars a barrel.
The tide of layoffs in the United States is fierce
The performance of a number of Us technology giants "exploded", not only brought down the US stock market, but even began to affect the US job market.
Affected by the less than expected financial reports in the first quarter of 2022, as well as pessimistic expectations for future performance, Many well-known technology companies in the United States such as Microsoft, Netflix, Meta, Twitter, PayPal, Snap have successively released news of layoffs and frozen recruitment, which has frequently triggered a wave of selling in the US stock market, and even triggered market concerns about the US employment prospects.
On May 27, local time, a person familiar with the matter revealed that PayPal has begun to lay off employees in the risk management department to reduce costs and improve profits; in early May, PayPal said that it would lay off more than 800 employees at its headquarters in California, and also lay off more than 300 employees in Ireland.
In mid-May, Netflix confirmed to the media that this year's layoffs were about 2 percent, mostly from the U.S., citing the company's slower revenue growth and the need to reduce costs.
U.S. social giant Twitter also said it had frozen hiring plans and fired 2 executives in response to macroeconomic conditions and uncertainty surrounding acquisitions.
Robinhood, a U.S. "retail home base" online broker, also announced a round of layoffs of up to 9 percent.
Online used car retailer Carvana announced on May 10 that it would lay off about 2,500 jobs, equivalent to 12 percent of the total workforce, to help restore profitability.
By collating the layoff announcements of U.S. companies since 2022, investment bank Piper Sandler predicts that the U.S. market may see millions or more layoffs over the next period of time.
Piper Sandler's study concluded that low-income workers who enjoy the highest salary increases during the COVID-19 pandemic are currently the most likely to be laid off. In the second half of this year, U.S. employment growth could fall to 100,000/month from 515,000/month in April.
In addition, data tracked by the Revello research team of Bank of America Global Research shows that since October 2021, the total number of jobs in the United States has plummeted by 22.5%, the largest drawdown decline since 2019. Several other labor market indicators also indicate that the situation in the US job market is not optimistic.
Some analysts pointed out that the online consumption boom caused by the epidemic is dissipating, the layoff cycle of the Us Internet is on the way, and the growth of wages and jobs will slow down accordingly.
Robots are selling out
For the wave of layoffs in the United States, Nancy Lazar, chief economist of Piper Sandler, commented that after the new crown epidemic, superimposed on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the US job market is facing a huge adjustment, the tide of layoffs may be more violent, many companies have excessive employment and excessive salary increases during the epidemic prevention and control period, resulting in high labor costs for enterprises.
Manpower Shenghua Human Resources, which has more than 100,000 customers worldwide, said that wages have risen to unacceptable levels for American business owners, and once faced with the pressure of revenue and net profit growth, business owners will begin to reduce costs and may begin to lay off high-paying personnel.
In the first quarter of this year, U.S. corporate profits fell the most in two years, and U.S. corporate employers seem less willing to take a big pay raise to retain or attract talent.
At the same time, in order to reduce high labor costs, a large number of manufacturers in the United States have begun to turn their attention to robots. According to the latest data from the American Association for the Promotion of Automation, in the first quarter of 2022, U.S. robot orders increased by 40%, a record high, significantly higher than the 21% growth rate in 2021.
The Wall Street Journal reported that rising wages, labor shortages, and rising employee absenteeism due to the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted more and more U.S. companies to embrace new automation equipment and robotics.
Some robot manufacturers revealed that some US companies are trying to reduce labor, and the current production capacity of the production line has reached the upper limit to meet market demand.
With the rapid iteration of technology, robots have been able to perform complex tasks that require strength and flexibility, and the substitution of labor is getting higher and higher, and many industries, including automotive, food, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals, are now accelerating automation.
But the adoption of robotics in U.S. manufacturing is still relatively slow. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the density of robots in the United States (industrial robots used per 10,000 manufacturing workers) lags behind that of industrial giants such as South Korea, Japan and Germany.
IFR expects global robot shipments to grow at an average annual rate of 12% between 2020 and 2022, with shipments growing to 584,000 units in 2022.
The "milk powder shortage" in the United States detonated the stock price
The "milk powder shortage" in the United States is still one of the problems that the US market is worried about.
According to the latest data released by retail data company Datasembly, the national infant formula stock-out rate soared to 70% in the week ended May 22, significantly higher than the previous week's 45% stock-out rate.
Among them, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, Montana, Louisiana, Arizona and Utah have even more than 80% of the stock-out rate.
The "milk powder shortage" that the United States is facing has even triggered the stock price of Australian milk powder manufacturer Buss Australia, which soared more than 40% in a single day to 0.68 Australian dollars per share in Sydney on May 30, with the largest intraday gain of more than 76%.
The trigger that triggered Buss Australia's stock price came from a May 27 statement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which said Bubs Australia would ship at least 1.25 million cans of infant formula to the United States to help alleviate milk shortages across the United States.
The FDA said it decided to exercise its law enforcement discretion after reviewing the nutritional adequacy and safety of Buss Australia milk powder.
This decision, which apparently eased the urgent needs of US President Biden, forwarded the news at the first time, and said that Bubs Australia milk powder can be filled with 27.5 million bottles, and every effort is being made to get more formula on the shelves as soon as possible.
On May 30, Bubs Australia issued its latest statement saying that the company will deliver the product as quickly as possible.
Earlier, to ease the supply shortage, Biden announced the "Operation Fly Formula", which aims to speed up the import of infant formula and start supplying more formula to stores as soon as possible. Under The Flying Formula Campaign, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are authorized to use commercial aircraft to deliver overseas infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards.
In the past week, two aircraft carrying formula milk have arrived in the United States from Europe. Enough milk powder for 9,000 babies and 18,000 toddlers for a week arrived at Indianapolis Airport by a military aircraft from The Ramstein Air Base on May 22, and a FedEx cargo plane carrying 100,000 pounds of infant formula arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport on May 25.
All along, the US government has set very high import "barriers" for infant formula, and the review standards are very strict, and the tariff on foreign formula milk powder is as high as 17.5%, making it difficult for overseas milk powder to enter the US market.
Editor-in-charge: Tactical Constant