Google extends its hiring freeze

They grew from ~40k employees to ~70k employees in the past 3 years... that's just too much hiring. Regardless of how well or poor the state of the economy is, slowing employee growth is probably the smart move.

This gives me two thoughts.<p>1. Do folks think they are extending it because they are still working on a long term plan, or do they already have a plan but need more time to organize to execute layoffs or other cost saving measures? The warnings about worker productivity seemed a bit foreboding.<p>2. Are other companies having hiring freezes out of caution and fear, looking at market leaders like Google and following suit, or are actual, realized financial issues causing hiring freezes in tech?