Mass tech layoffs leave hundreds of H-1B visa holders scrambling for new jobs to stay in the US; Amazon, Meta, and others sponsored 45K+ in the last three years (Bloomberg)

Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed News:
Some laid-off tech workers on H-1B visas from Meta, Shopify, Twitter, and other tech companies say they didn’t get adequate immigration support from companies  —  Some former tech employees on work visas in the US are experiencing an existential crisis: “Is it worth staying here for a job and country that doesn’t care about you?”

CNN:
US Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows Twitter had nearly 300 people approved to work on H-1B visas in FY 2022 and Meta had more than 1,300  —  Twitter employees who are relying on the company for work visas have been left in limbo, finding themselves at the whims of its new billionaire owner …

Jason Del Rey / Vox:
How Amazon’s shopping experience, saturated with sponsored products, impacts sellers and consumers, as its ad revenue surpassed revenue from Prime in 2022  —  Inside the under-the-radar business that makes more money than Amazon Prime.  —  Type any random product into Amazon’s search bar and look closely at the results.

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
For search results on mobile, Google is replacing the “Ad” label with “Sponsored” in bold and moving it above the site URL in a separate line  —  Over the years, Google has made it harder to separate ads from organic search results at a glance.

The Economic Times:
A survey of ~4,000 Indian gig workers on Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Amazon, and others: 42% say their income is flat, 47% have no insurance, and 51% can’t save money  —  Gig workers in India are young, financially stressed, and largely uninsured, according to a new report.

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon increases its average starting pay for front-line US staff to $19+/hour, up from $18/hour; warehouse and delivery workers will earn $16/hour to $26/hour  —  – Amazon is bumping its average starting pay for warehouse and delivery workers to more than $19 an hour, up from $18 an hour, the company said Wednesday.