According to new federal WARN notices and EDD filings, three major Bay Area companies have lost 796 employees over the past few days, dealing another major economic blow to the region.
The San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley are still reeling cutting tens of thousands of jobs in 2022 and 2023, respectively, job cuts, an improving economy, and new growth areas such as AI are all set for a good 2024 to help revitalize the region. However, the new year is just over a few months away, and 2024 is currently looking as bad as previous years in the Bay Area. Many tech companies have announced thousands of layoffssome companies do will get rid of about 2000 employees in one day. It also bled outside the tech sector, like Levi Strauss posted between 10-15% of their workforce, mostly in San Francisco, will be laid off this year. In February, the shooting continued and had an impact Tech firm Okta has laid off 7% of its San Francisco workforceWith Cisco 4,000 job cutsand online form filling company DocuSign laid off about 6% of its workforce, or a total of 400 people.
The entire region saw an overall decline in jobs, with San Francisco losing 21,000 positions in the last three months alone. More recently, this has included Apple laid off more than 600 employees in early April in the first layoffs since COVID.
Earlier this week, San Francisco-based background check startup Checkr announced the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). It said 382 workers nationwide, including 260 in San Francisco, would be laid off. The company did not elaborate on why the layoffs occurred, eschewing the usual causes of overhiring during the pandemic, problems in San Francisco and higher costs in favor of general “economic conditions.”
“The total layoffs include 382 workers,” the company said earlier this week. “This will allow us to operate more efficiently and ensure the long-term health of our business. The severe and difficult cuts are a response to economic conditions that have affected hiring companies.”
Two companies with offices in South San Francisco, biotech firms Genentech and Sanofi, announced the layoffs Friday. In EDD filings, Genentech announced 436 layoffs, while Sanofi announced 100 layoffs. For Sanofi, the cuts come as the company looks to divest Amunix Pharmaceuticals. At the same time, Genentech said in a statement that they are “refocusing our efforts on the most promising treatments in development. This limited reduction will allow us to shift resources to areas where we can have the greatest impact on patients.”
The cuts to hiring experts in San Francisco, while not surprising, reflect the rapid decline of jobs in the Bay Area.
“Every time San Francisco or another company says they’re hiring, there’s a big new study or announcement that shows they’re not,” Julie Ochs, San Jose’s head hunter and recruiting specialist, told the Globe on Friday. “It was in San Francisco report on recent job losses. No matter how many jobs are created in AI or other fields, they lose more. And this is a pity. Biotech should have been a big savings effort in San Francisco 5 years ago, just like AI is today. Look at where most of the layoffs are coming from recently: biotech.
“San Francisco needs to diversify like Los Angeles or Fresno, both of which have seen overall employment gains in recent years despite some losses. All the recent losses prove that.”
More job losses are expected in the Bay Area in the coming months.
