Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2024. What's going on?

Last year was, by all accounts, a bloodbath for the tech industry, with more than 260,000 jobs vanishing — the worse 12 months for Silicon Valley since the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.

Executives justified the mass layoffs by citing a pandemic hiring binge, high inflation and weak consumer demand.

Now in 2024, tech company workforces have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, inflation is half of what it was this time last year and consumer confidence is rebounding.