Job market 'exceptionally tight' as NW tech workers face layoffs, hiring freezes

Some of the biggest names in the Northwest's tech industry are either laying off employers, or implementing hiring freezes, for thousands of workers.

"Anything that goes on with the tech industry certainly catches our eye," given its size and economic importance to the state, said labor economist Paul Turek at the Washington Employment Security Department in Olympia. "We're starting to see them tighten up the hatches a little bit."

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Turek said he is not too worried for the affected workers right now, however, because the labor market still favors jobseekers.

"Job openings have crested, beginning to come down a bit, no longer at the highs, but they're still at a historically high level," Turek said.

Turek notes that the labor market remains "exceptionally tight." He expects that to change, but only slowly, as businesses show increasing caution about a possible recession next year.

The list of tech companies warning of impending layoffs, or actually issuing pink slips, includes some of the biggest Northwest employers in that sector, such as Facebook, Redfin, Twitter, Intel, and Microsoft. Amazon plans to layoff 10,000 workers soon, according to the New York Times. It's the largest employee cut back in the company's history.

The last two monthly jobs reports issued by the state employment department showed employers in Washington continued to add jobs overall, but at a slowing pace. On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment rose by 1,500 jobs in September, coming on the heels of a robust gain of 21,700 jobs in August.

The agency pegged the statewide unemployment rate at a steady 3.7% for September. The jobless rate for the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett metro area was even lower at 2.7%. The October update on joblessness in Washington will come out on Wednesday Nov. 16.

"It looks really good there relative to some other indicators about where the economy may be heading," Turek said.