Even with a big rate cut, Big Tech will be cautious about another hiring spree

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

The jumbo-sized Federal Reserve interest rate cut Wednesday is bound to impact everything from home prices to new-car loans to hiring in the hard-hit tech sector.

But while the cut — the first in four years, and by a whopping 50 basis points — is likely to boost hiring, experts told B-17 that Big Tech companies will likely be cautious.

These businesses had to make difficult decisions to downsize and restructure after the pandemic boom, and “all of those battle wounds are still fairly fresh,” Adam Stafford, CEO of recruitment marketing platform Recruitics, told B-17.

Stafford expects the rate cut will provide “a little shot in the arm” for hiring but said “business leaders are going to be cautious to really hit the gas.”

Ryan Sutton, the executive director of technology practice at HR firm Robert Half, agreed the hiring market could get a jolt, but said companies will be “cautiously optimistic.”

“I think it’s going to be an interesting fall,” he mused.

Nick Bunker, the director of North American economic research for the Indeed Hiring Lab, said the half-point cut signals a renewed focus by the Federal Reserve to support the labor market, but he doesn’t expect it to immediately impact hiring.

“A variety of factors are weighing on hiring at large tech companies and one rate cut alone is unlikely to move the needle,” he told B-17 in an email.

Tech workers have faced a brutal run of layoffs that began in 2023 and a job market that’s cooled off since the pandemic-era hiring explosion.

But there are still bright spots for tech workers, the HR experts said.

While tech layoffs have largely impacted middle office workers such as those in HR and operations, Stafford said, companies have invested in core tech talent this year – with jobs in data science, AI, and machine learning “flying off the shelves.”

And while overall tech hiring has been “steady” and “conservative” this year, Sutton said, job seekers could see new opportunities fairly soon, given that those who were hoping for rate cuts likely adjusted their budgets when it was first signaled in August.

“You’re probably just about now going to truly start to see any signs,” he said.