Tech's pandemic hiring spree shows signs of slowing - July 11, 2022

Elon Musk announced his intention to terminate his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter Friday after claiming the social-media giant disclosed “false and misleading” numbers on fake user accounts. Twitter said it plans to take legal action. The decision sent shares of Twitter tumbling in premarket trading as analysts warned that Musk’s decision could set the stage for a turbulent period, carrying new financial risks for Twitter and its workers. The tech industry’s rapid hiring during the pandemic is slowing as top executives warn employees to brace themselves for tougher times as fears of a recession loom. Roughly 85% of IT decision-makers predict their organization will be impacted by the cost of doing business - including pay freezes and hiring freezes. Companies like Netflix, Coinbase, Tesla and Twitter all laid-off workers in recent months. Additionally, more companies are hiring individuals without degrees as the lack of credentials is no longer shutting out workers from industries like tech, carrying implications for economic mobility and equity. Rents have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in most major cities, but the median price for a one-bedroom apartment in the U.S. still reached an all-time high of $1,422 in June. Cities like San Francisco are lagging behind as landlords point to sky-high prices pre-covid, rent-control policies and a mass exodus of tech workers, with the city’s median rent down only 10% from March 2020. Mortgage rates saw the largest decline since December 2008 last week, pushed down by economic uncertainty. Concerns about personal finances surged while COVID fears evaporated as a top issue for Americans, with roughly 40% of U.S. adults naming inflation as a top priority of the government. A new COVID-19 subvariant BA.5.2.1 has been discovered in Shanghai and has been described as "very high risk." With pharmaceutical companies struggling to keep up with the rapid mutations, a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup claims it can help them by using artificial intelligence to predict fut