call the number on your screen to learn more about medicare plans in your neighborhood that include caremore. >> building a better bay area. moving forward and finding solutions. this is abc. host: hello, everyone and you are watching "getting answers" on abc seven. we talked to experts about issues important to the bay area and to you and get answers to you in real-time. in 10 minutes we will have a preview of the niners touchup with the cowboys. larry beil will be joining me to discuss some of the keys to the game. and the lunar new year is two days away. we will take a look ahead at the celebration planned for the vietnamese community in south bay. but first, a new year and a new round of tech layoffs.

this week microsoft announced cutting 10,000 jobs and this morning google's parent company of said it planned to lay off 12,000 workers. there have been more than 55,000 layoffs and -- at 151 tech companies this january alone. to help make sense of all of it, joining me now is steve leavy from the center for continuing body of the california economy. thank you so much for joining us. right away i think we all want to know why is this happening? we live in cilic and valley and for the last few years it felt tech could do no wrong. steve: it is a rebalancing. if you take for example saros force -- salesforce's they skyrocketed up to 80,000. they will lay off 10,000. they will still have 20,000 more

employees than they did three years ago. these companies are going into a slow economic period. they are thinking that the hiring spurt that ahead of themselves. all of the big companies will end up with more employees than they had 2-3 years ago. the second point is the layoffs have been announced but they have not happened. today, the employment development department said the bay area gained almost 14,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate was 2.4% and the number of people unemployed was below the pre-pandemic level. so the layoffs are in the near future and they will be really hard for the people that get laid off. the final point is those numbers, 12000 and 10,000, those are not in the bay but worldwide. there will be a lot in the bay

area but those numbers are worldwide numbers. dion: and you touched upon something important because i wanted to also mention having that perspective because in the grand scheme of things, those numbers are different when you see the actual hiring numbers. certain companies know the percentage of workers being laid off is quite big. steve: it is. and you have to pain to the people that get laid off. my wife and i just learned an hour ago that one of our dearest friends got laid off, i got a notice today and that is extremely painful. it is more painful for people in low-wage jobs because those jobs do not have a lot of job openings. in tech, even the big companies like google and apple have tons of openings because people

retire, people move on so they have layoffs but the tech workers with skills, some of them at least can find other jobs but harder for retail workers. dion: i want to talk about both. this is fitting. this is having an effect on our local economy because even during the pandemic we had a move to work from home. a lot of people suffered can you elaborate on what you foresee happening next with those smaller jobs or the surrounding area jobs? steve: the have an economic downturn, it is harder on people at the bottom. it is harder on small businesses and in this case it is much harder on startups because the next round of venture capital they need is drying out. the big companies will survive.

where i live in san jose, and apple are planning large expansions over the next few years and are committed to that and building some of the housing. much harder if you are a low-wage worker or a small business. the work from home which preceded all of these layoffs is just a killer. in my city, palo alto, the restaurant business at lunch has dried up because it was and honestly -- enormously people working downtown in palo alto. i think it is worse in san francisco with the work from home. i will be a longer recovery. i know for example they are talking about repurposed things some of the sites in union square because retail will not be coming back.

anytime you have economic pain, it is different for different groups. dion: exactly. the businesses have to force themselves to get creative and find alternatives. you mentioned your friend that i myself had one. i want to talk about the job outlook for them. it is easy to say these are skilled workers in tech but my friend says the competition is fierce and it has been difficult to find another job of people pay. steve: right. again, there are two buckets i think. most people -- you don't want to get laid off at the beginning of an economic downturn. it is one thing to get laid off while most of the other companies are booming and you can get another job but right now we are heading for a slow down or a recession. but whatever it is it will be a

really tough job market for at least six months. for most people. there are, as i said, openings if you have the right skills at tech companies but that only covers a small number of people getting laid off. you kind of forget -- announced they are laying off cafeteria workers. not ending -- not everyone that gets laid off from google or facebook is a high-tech employee. dion: we have 30 seconds. can you tell me what these layoffs mean for those on the hb one visa. they are highly skilled and able to come to the u.s. but still waiting for their green card. what do they need to be concerned about? will they need to move back to the country that they came from? steve: the rules as i understand it is you have two months after you are laid off if you do not have a green card. and so, it will be really

difficult. some people will probably have to take jobs below their skill level if they want to stay here and there may be some people who go back. most of these people are in tech so they can compete for the job openings that are around. they may have to move to a different location temporarily or permanently but yes, if you do not get a job in two months i understanding is you go back. dion: the countdown is on. steve leavy, thank you for joining us. steve: thank you. dion: we will be right back with larry beil with a preview of the big game against the 49ers and (vo) at wells fargo, direct deposits come up to two days early with early pay day. what if everything came two days early? (hero) have a good weekend! alright now... have a good weekend.

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dion: this weekend the niners will look to move a step closer to another super bowl appearance but they will have to beat an old rival to get there. sports director larry beil to talk about the matchup with the cowboys. the niners are favored to win. larry: in the bag? not even close. sunday night at 6:45 we will know what in the bag looks like. the cowboys are a really good team. the niners are a better team i think which is why they are favorite. they have won 11 straight games. a couple weeks ago the cowboys suffered a terrible loss to washington and there was panic in dallas. but, you can see here, this is a video of dak prescott orchestrating a win over tampa bay in the final game. tampa with tom brady immobile

and looked terrible. it made the cowboys feel like, this is the cowboy team we can expect to roll into the playoffs. but the opposition there was so poor, the niners are way better than tampa. i don't think you can say, dallas' last game they looked really good against an inferior opponents. dion: it is perspective. and mind you i do hail from new england so me and tom -- and the bucs. larry: they are out. dion: moving on, can we talk about brought purdy -- brock purdy? his underdog story -- and i remember his first game as quarterback and being glued to the screen. is he ready for this? larry: he appears to be.

the first game he appeared jimmy garoppolo had an injury. i was on a plane. i am appearing over someone's shoulder who has the game. he said, the niners backup backup quarterback is in and i was like, oh no, a d this was the last guy taken in the draft. his scouting report was he was too small and his arm is not strong enough and he lacks ability. dion: mr. insignificant. larry: mr. irrelevant. he has blown all of those predictions are away. he has been incredibly poised. you don't see ricky quarterbacks like this. he is not a huge dude but he has presence in the huddle. the players have talked about it. he looks like a tech grow card when you watch -- he looks like

a tech bro/ he looks like he could be setting up your i.t. profile. but he is so skilled and poised and understand the game and seems to have a better mesh with what kyle shanahan wants to do then jimmy garoppolo even. kyle was reluctant to throw the ball down the field with jimmy. this play right here, he does not panic. he moves strategically and finds his guy open. he keeps his eyes down the field which is so important especially for a young quarterback. guys get scared and say, i'm running but brock keeps his eyes down the field which is part of the benefit of being a four year starter in college. you have played a lot of football. the niners will be the first to

tell you, they liked him in the draft but no one would've expected he could take the baton and run with it and be undefeated and have a better passing rating then patrick mahomes. dion: two things come to mind, he has a nice disposition when i hear him talk. he is very polite and very grateful to be in the position he is in but at the end of the day i think, chemistry, right? until you are in that moment and see what you can do, i think in basketball terms. i was just hosting something at the chase center with jeremy lin and that was the same case. a guy that did not play and then he gets his opportunity. larry: he should not be as comfortable as he appears to be. it is the thing that is -- it is just so striking. this is like a hollywood pipe story of a guy that no one expected to be in this position coming in, a rookie, he has

never done this before at this level which is why a lot of the people this week on the national level are like -- i don't know how he will handle this task. but if you watched him play the last couple of months, it has been unbelievable. you should not be this good come this fast. dion: it doesn't make sense. larry: and there he is and he has the total respect of the locker room. a remarkable story. if he can ride this to the super bowl, it would be unbelievable. but it is possible. dion: there are other members of the team which i suppose we should address also. larry: that is the big part of this, the niners on offense have almost an all-star team. you look at samuel and christian mccaffrey and trent williams and i could go on and on. you have almost an embarrassment of riches. all he has to do basically is --

it sounds like a terrible oversimplification but -- don't screw it up. dion: duly noted, larry. larry: that is my philosophy on tv also. he has a lot of people around him that are really, really good. that is what the niner offense is based on. dion: we are running out of time but i want to get to this. this is a déjà vu. why is this such a big rivalry? larry: these teams have been playing since long before you were born. almost as long as when spencer christian was born. dion: you went there. larry: i had to take my one spencer shot, since the 1970's. roger starbuck all the way through to john mccain -- joe montana. they have each won five super

bowls appease. the epic struggle of the goliath versus goliath kind of thing. it is worthy of a championship game. we are getting it in the division round but all niners fans care about is a victory. seeing it in the bag to go all the way back. dion: as a nonsports director person, this is how i view things. larry: i'm just giving you a hard time. we will see. sunday is going to be great. dion: we have our reporters covering it ahead of the newscast. larry: and ticket prices are through the roof. dion: i have no doubt. and we will be right back with a look ahead at the big

dion: the lunar new year is this sunday and communities around the bay area will be celebrating for weeks to come. in san jose, our vietnamese

communities have tet festivals to ring in the new year. beautiful costumes. first off, please what you are wearing because i am not familiar. i'm still learning about these traditions myself. >> i am wearing the vietnamese traditional dress that we would normally wear to a festival or a holiday or a wedding or if are engaged or have a marriage. >> hello, my name is queenie and i am wearing the costume of a minority group in vietnam. dion: both of you look simply stunning and i'm looking forward to learning more. i want to start off by asking you about vietnamese greeting for the new year. can you share that with me so we

can learn what that is? >> [speaking non-english language] dion: could you say it more slowly? >> [speaking non-english language] dion: [speaking non-english language] thank you for that. tell us the meaning of tet because this is one of the most important celebrations in vietnamese culture. >> it is the major celebration. you can say the combination of thanksgiving, christmas time and new year's time, everything rolled into one is the meaning of tet. dion: is it similar that the lunar new year for the chinese is about prosperity and a new beginning. >> it is exactly the same. we normally celebrate

little longer, the whole months. it is not like in america where we celebrate for only a day. we really celebrate the whole month. dion: i love that. >> that is the difference. dion: more fun for everyone and time to join in the celebrations. i have a vietnamese friend who told me it was the year of the cat and for those that are chinese and other asian cultures, it is the year of the rabbit. can you tell me about the differences? are those zodiac's all different or just this particular year? >> technically it is all the same but based on my knowledge i know that printouts rabbit like

which is why we thought it was a catch. -- the cat. the farmer prefers the because they can catch the rat. dion: thank you for the story behind that. continuing on, you founded the tet festival in san jose in 2015. tell me how the celebration has grown and shaved since then and what people can expect if they want to attend this time? >> thank you for that question. i just loved to have the vietnamese culture and introduce it to all of the people. not only in san jose so i hop the vietnamese culture can translate to the next generation especially the young generation born here in the u.s. so they can know about tet. i feel i

remember the culture. it is very important to have family together and to celebrate the new year with all of the good luck and hope that everyone has a happy and healthy new year. dion: it is all about unity and being together. in the video we just thought there was some fireworks being set off. is that part of the celebration? >> we always have fireworks. that is traditional. but i don't control that. people bring the fireworks and they can do it. dion: i see how it goes. through chinatown. >> things of the old your away which is why they use fireworks. dion: it is kind of like a warning. here in chinatown during this

time as well. we have a minute left but i want to get to you, queenie because you crowned the contestant. >> every year me and jodi together work with the production company to bring the young and beautiful faces to the festival. we also perform to bring the culture and to show and sho the beauty of other ladies. and this year it is not different. we are going to perform at the festival. dion: i love that. and just looking forward before we go, are there particular parts of the festival that you enjoy the most and want to let our viewers know about if they have never been before? >> to meet the best thing is i love the dragon dance.

can see. but is the highlight of the events. and we have a great entertainment program with different ethnic groups that will come to perform at our festival this year. dion: and we will have more information at our website on how you can attend and everything you need to know. do you, jodi and to you, queenie, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having us. >> and on january the center. dion: a great reminder. we want to remind you that you can always get our live newscast without breaking along with whether on our abc 7 bay area streaming app and you can find it on apple tv, fire tv. all you have to do is search abc

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