Political | Process

Economists cautioned that, overall, the job market remains robust, with the unemployment rate in April at 3.6%, layoffs at historically low levels and many companies still eager to bring on more workers if they can even find them.

While employment in the tech sector has grown rapidly and intensified competition for talent across the country, the industry employed about 8.7 million people at the end of 2021, or 5.7% of the overall U.S. workforce, according to CompTIA, an industry trade group.

The slowdown in hiring at some companies suggests that executives are becoming more risk averse and “less prepared to tolerate sort of growth at all costs,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at the job site ZipRecruiter. “Many of these companies grew so fast in the pandemic; perhaps they overextended a little.”

The shifting hiring landscape in technology has worried some workers, who have expressed concerns on sites such as LinkedIn about rescinded offers or difficulties getting hired. While few large technology companies have announced layoffs, many have said they want to do more to hold down spending. 

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. said last week it would sharply slow its hiring after it more than doubled the size of its workforce since 2018.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told staff in a memo Thursday that the company would pause hiring and review the job offers it has made to candidates.

Mr. Agrawal said Twitter, which agreed to be acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion, planned to spend less on contractors and consultants, travel, marketing and other costs.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told staff in a note this month that the company will “treat hiring as a privilege” and be more deliberate about when and where it adds new employees. Mr. Khosrowshahi said the company needed to focus on profitability, and that the market and investor sentiment had shifted.