Tech's K-shaped boom: stocks up, jobs down

The article highlights a growing K-shaped divergence within tech: tech stocks are trading at record highs relative to the S&P 500 while tech-sector employment is declining. After the April payrolls report — which added 115,000 jobs and left unemployment at 4.3% — the BLS “information” category fell by 13,000 jobs and is down 342,000 (11%) from its November 2022 peak. The piece notes corporate cuts at Cloudflare (~1,100 roles, ~20%) and Coinbase (~700 roles, ~14%), and argues investors are rewarding firms that can scale with AI and infrastructure investment without adding headcount. Market impact: equity markets continue to price premium valuations for tech (US Tech 100), reflecting expectations of AI-driven revenue and capital expenditure growth even as labor metrics soften, implying a split between capital gains and weakening tech employment that supports continued sector outperformance rather than a classic demand-driven bust.