Bloomberg reported on Monday that Apple would slow hiring in some company divisions in the coming months, another sign that a historically strong job market may be cooling down as the Federal Reserve tries to pump the brakes on an overheated economy.
The tech behemoth’s cautious hiring stance will not extend companywide, per Bloomberg’s sources. But the go-slow stance is still unusual for Apple, and is the latest in a string of negative signs from some of America’s biggest companies, particularly in the tech sector.
Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees that the company will be “slowing down the pace of hiring for the rest of the year.” In a similar note, Meta’s chief product officer warned of “serious times” ahead.
Their actions reflect broader pessimism among some economic forecasters. On Monday, Goldman Sachs warned that job growth was poised to fall “sharply,” forecasting a slight tick up in the unemployment rate in the coming year. Larry Summers, who issued prescient warnings about inflation, believes that the Federal Reserve’s attempts to slow it will result in 6 percent unemployment.
Yet even as inflation continues to bite and consumer sentiment remains low, Americans keep spending. For now, the job market remains strong, with unemployment at a mere 3.6 percent, among the lowest rates ever. And recruiters say there’s little sign of a hiring slowdown among technology firms, despite the well-publicized warnings.
In short: The American economy is showing enough mixed signals to make any kind of prediction unusually difficult.
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