Ask HN: Are there tech layoffs in government?

[sahraa]

There has been a lot of news around tech layoffs at companies. Are people experiencing the same working for government?

[andy99]

It would be more likely for government to cut contracts. At least in the areas I'm familiar with, a big part of tech spend is on contractors (often former government people who want to make more money) and there are periodic pushes to spend less on this. Actual employees are harder to cut and less likely to be cut.

[sahraa]

That's interesting. I imagined we would notice more cuts in government directly, but this makes sense. I work in Holland and there are discussions all the time about government outsourcing.

[skeletonhaver]

I work in a technical role in state gov in Australia - it feels like there will never be layoffs in my org (24k total headcount, emergency service). the problems are what you'd imagine but it's a job for life if you want it.

[sahraa]

Cool, interested to know if anything changes in the current climate. Maybe indirectly via outsourcing/contract cuts like andy99 suggests