Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 April 15

= April 15 =

Which economic event do the recent tech layoffs fall under?
As you're probably aware, there have been many layoffs in the tech industry in the past year. It's my understanding this is the result of excessive hiring during the pandemic. However, there seems to be little commentary about this on Wikipedia. I did find some articles related to recent economic events, but they don't seem to be directly related to the layoffs:


 * Great Resignation is about people quitting voluntarily
 * 2023–2024 video game industry layoffs is specific to video game companies. Someone on the talk page suggested expanding the article to cover tech layoffs in general, but discussion seems to have stopped
 * COVID-19 recession seems to be about a past recession that ended in late 2022
 * Financial market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic only covers up to August 2020
 * 2021–2023 inflation surge, 2022 stock market decline and 2023 United States banking crisis don't seem to talk much about unemployment

Are these layoffs part of any of the above events? Or are they not considered notable enough for there to be an article about them? Ixfd64 (talk) 22:54, 15 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Strictly, Wikipedia doesn't do 'commentary', or draw its own conclusions, but only summarises what has already been published in Reliable sources.
 * If there are several independent pieces in recognised news publications, economic journals and the like specifically discussing these tech layoffs, a Wikipedia article about them could be created using those sources. It is the existence of substantial source material that makes something 'notable' in the Wikipedia sense. As a long-term editor, you likely know all this already.
 * Of course, a volunteer editor would have to actually do the work of finding these sources and drafting the article. Any takers? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.134.31 (talk) 23:47, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I obviously meant sourced commentary. At least it's a term we often use in FfD discussions on whether a non-free image may be used as fair use. Ixfd64 (talk) 04:59, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * What layoffs? That's my attempt at a humorous way of suggesting that if you can find a reliable source describing at least a fair chunk of those layoffs, it could guide us in and how to describe them here on Wikipedia. HiLo48 (talk) 23:50, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
 * TechCrunch has a comprehensive list of them. Are they considered notable enough? Ixfd64 (talk) 05:02, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * The other day I saw a YouTube video that related these layoffs to the productivity-enhancing use of LLMs. There may be reliable sources making the same connection. --Lambiam 04:42, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Also look into whether tech companies lay-off employees because they want to increase the amount of employees that know artificial intelligence. 66.99.15.162 (talk) 19:37, 22 April 2024 (UTC).