Shares in Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, which boosted its workforce by nearly a third through 2020 and 2021, rose 4% on Friday.Advertising dollars, Alphabet's mainstay revenue source, meanwhile, is feeling the squeeze from businesses chopping budgets as consumers pull back spending."It is clear that Alphabet is not immune from the tough economic backdrop, with worries about a U.S. recession growing," said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown."Ad growth has come off the boil ... Competition is also heating up, with Alphabet facing a powerful rival in TikTok, and Instagram also vying for its important YouTube viewers," Streeter said, noting that Alphabet has also racked up billions in regulatory fines."The tech sector is bit like the proverbial canary in the coal mine," said Stuart Cole, an economist at Equiti Capital, who believes the tech layoffs portend that the outlook for job security is finally beginning to turn more negative."