Big Tech’s Layoff Wave Is an Outlier in Still-Robust Job Market

The layoffs and hiring freezes mounting at US technology companies are unlikely to be a harbinger of trouble in the broader US labor market, economists say.

While tech firms that went on a hiring spree during the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom are now cutting back, many other industries are still struggling with labor shortages, said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

“It’s not a bellwether of the entire labor market,” Lee said of the tech industry. “At the end of the day, we have to remember that the US job market remains extremely tight.”

The past weeks have ...