Economist Milton Friedman’s maxim that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program” applies to work visas that are supposed to be temporary.
Every week brings a new headline about layoffs in the tech sector amid falling share prices, rising inflation, and the end of cheap money. Still, the decreasing demand for labor doesn’t seem to be reducing the demand for foreign tech workers. Among Big Tech companies, Amazon cut 18,000 employees, Google 12,000, Microsoft 10,000, Meta (Facebook) 11,000, Salesforce 8,000, Twitter 4,000 (half the company), IBM 3,900, and Yahoo 1,600 (or 20% of staff). Smaller companies where layoffs represent higher percentages of the workforce are downsizing too. Spotify cut 600 employees or 6%, Snap laid off 1,000 or 20%,
