Layoff Anxiety in WA State Among Highest in Nation

Tech companies have been shedding workers by the thousands, especially since the 'end' of COVID, and now anxiety over layoffs is rampant.

 Seattle-area tech workers have some of the highest in the nation

According to information from MyNorthwest.com,  Google has done some studies, tracking a wide variety of employment (and unemployment) related data to determine what the anxiety levels are concerning layoffs.

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According to MyNorthwest a company called SmartAsset utilized Google Trends and compiled data from various searches:

"SmartAsset, a personal finance company, ranked the U.S. cities with the most layoff anxiety using Google Trends data for 94 metros based on the average number of searches for the following keywords: layoffs, severance pay, recession, downsizing, unemployment, benefits, and furlough."

This data was used to determine concern or 'anxiety' over the workers' job status. These kinds of searches are commonly associated with people who are concerned about their longevity at a job. More from MyNorthwest.com:

"The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue region ranked third in highest layoff anxiety. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley and San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad placed first and second, respectively."

  According to 365DataScience, the pandemic period of growth in tech industries has perhaps popped, with over 120K being let go in 2022, and another 68,500 in January, 2023. Another example is Twitter, which has seen thousands of layoffs. It's believed new owner Elon Musk is looking to shed about half the social media company's workforce by the time he is done.