Bay Area tech layoffs finally start to weigh down region’s job market

The exterior of the new Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. The current convulsions in the local economy may represent the latest iteration of that metamorphosis as companies execute lightning-quick shifts to artificial intelligence, clean tech and green energy industries. — Bay Area News Group/TNS

Two years of wrenching tech layoffs have weighed down the Bay Area’s job market in a big way – but experts say the impact has been somewhat mitigated by an industry realignment that’s led to significant hiring even as thousands of positions have been cut.

For decades, Silicon Valley has engaged in what tech insiders and sages call “creative destruction”. The current convulsions in the local economy may represent the latest iteration of that metamorphosis as companies execute lightning-quick shifts to artificial intelligence, clean tech and green energy industries.