A recent post indicated employment declined from 203,000 in 2021 to 160,700 in 2022, a decline of 20.8%. That is quite extraordinary for a large mature company, and something not mentioned very often in the press - even in the WSJ.
But who is getting the axe? The recent annual report of AT&T pensions (including 401k) provides some insight. The net transfer out of the management plan for 2022 (most recent year available) was 12% of plan assets at the beginning of the year while the union plan had a net transfer out of the plan of only 3%.
My personal conclusion is when net transfers out of a plan are positive it is an indication of headcount reductions. The difference between 12% and 3% is 4X and indicates most of the headcount reductions are coming from individual contributor management. JS is nobody's friend but especially not non-represented management.
Management $Millions
Participants 218,225
Beginning Assets $53,749.24
Ending Assets $37,570.41
Net Change $(16,178.83) -30.1%
Net Transfer Out $(6,405.58) -11.9%
Union $Millions
Participants 31,667
Beginning Assets $2,536.50
Ending Assets $1,980.57
Net Change $(555.93) -21.9%
Net Transfer Out $(72.44) -2.9%