It shouldn’t be too big of a surprise to see even more companies laying off employees ahead of Christmas. Crunch time continues for many firms, and saving costs is mandatory. Unfortunately, there have been severe layoffs this week, with three companies going out of business.
Layoffs Continue To Mount
No industry is safe from the economic uncertainty plaguing the world today. Whether it is retail, media, finance, food, transportation, education, or crypto, every job is at stake. Although most companies will keep layoffs to a minimum, that isn’t always possible for others. It is a regrettable development that most people have seen coming for a good while now. Unfortunately, no improvements are expected, with more people losing jobs ahead of the 2022 holiday season.
The past week has seen numerous layoff rounds across the industries mentioned above. Especially transportation is taking big hits lately. SWVL (Cairo), Carvana (Phoenix), Nuro (SF Bay Area), and Kavak (Sao Paulo) all announced big layoffs this week. The most significant loss is noted at Nuro, which let 20% of its 300 employees go. However, the 8% job cut at Carvana – with 1,500 employees – is also rather severe.
During times of financial stress, transportation becomes a luxury for many people. They are far less likely to buy a new car, no matter how innovative the approach may be. Cars and other vehicles are incredibly expensive, and there are other ways of transportation. People might not always like walking, biking, or public transport, but they are far more affordable options. In addition, remote work is still prevalent, so a car isn’t always required for work either.
Unfortunately, things do not look good for food and retail either. The food sector saw layoffs for Flash Coffee (Singapore), Kitopi (Dubai), and Zomato (Gurugram). Retail lost jobs at SIRCLO (Jakarta) and Trax (Singapore). Unfortunately, there is also the demise of retail player GoodGood in Toronto, which cut 100% of jobs. It is not the only company going out of business this week.
More Hits For Finance & Crypto
Even this week, the sectors losing the most momentum remain crypto and finance. More specifically, Lemon – in Buenos Aires – cut 38% of its workforce, which is rather problematic. Metaplex in Chicago also let people go, although specifics remain unclear. Centralized companies in the crypto space continue to get battered as trust in such services dwindles in the wake of the FTX debacle. Although crypto prices have rebounded slightly, the markets remain volatile.
In the finance segment, layoffs have been less prevalent in terms of affected companies. However, the two firms letting people go this week are now defunct. Assure (Salt Lake City) and GloriFi (Dallas) are out of business. Although their number of employees hasn’t been disclosed, it remains a worrisome development. Those layoffs come on the heels of Juni (Gothenburg), Capitolis (New York) and Koho (Toronto) laying off people just last weekend.
