Why businesses are furiously hiring even as a downturn looms

be hiring or firing? Demand for workers has roared back over the past two years. At the same time fears of recession are widespread. Firms are scrambling to respond—and coming up with different answers. Last week Snap, a social-media firm, said it would fire a fifth of its workforce and noted the “difficult macro backdrop”. Mark Zuckerberg is reported to have told employees at Meta that “there are probably a bunch of people who shouldn’t be here,” but has so far not announced big lay-offs. Tim Cook, boss of Apple, takes the middle course. The iPhone-maker will continue to hire “in areas”, he said recently, but he was “clear-eyed” about the risks to the economy.For now the hirers are trumping the firers. Figures released on September 2nd show that American employers, excluding farms, added 315,000 workers in August. The Jobs Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (), released a few days earlier, reported 11.2m job openings in July. There were almost two vacancies for every unemployed person (see chart 1). The situation in Britain is similar. The Bank of England forecasts a bitter recession but vacancies are near record levels.