The UBS Corporation Joins A Growing Tide Of Global Layoffs Beyond The Tech Industry

It has been reported that UBS Group AG plans to lay off as many as 36,000 workers globally over the next six months, making it the company with the largest number of layoffs globally during the current period.

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These cuts are part of UBS' takeover of long-time rival Credit Suisse Group AG, which took place in the summer of 2012. As a result, the combined workforce is expected to be reduced by as much as 30%. There was a real sense of disappointment at the annual shareholder meeting when Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann apologized for not saving the 167-year-old institution.

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Earlier this month, the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, sending shock waves through an economy already reeling from mass layoffs and under pressure from central banks locked in a high-stakes war against inflation, causing layoffs on top of those that had already taken place. It sparked a recession and increased job losses - sharpening the risk of another recession.

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Although the US economy has been strong thus far, adding 311,000 new jobs in February after adding over half a million new jobs in January. In addition to exposing more vulnerabilities in banks that suffer from interest-rate risk, such as SVB, startups that are heavily dependent on venture capital funding to continue their operations and payroll, central banks’ increasingly aggressive campaign of rate hikes may expose more banks to these risks.

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It seems that the sweeping wave of layoffs that began late last year is not letting up, marked by the worst start to a year since 2009 and the loss of 52,000 jobs in one week in January alone, was the worst tally of that kind since 2009. According to a comprehensive review by Bloomberg News focused on layoffs around the world, which examined almost 538,000 layoffs worldwide since Oct. 1, executives across sectors have fired almost 538,000 employees.