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./j JOBLESS WEEKLY · October 26, 2026
Hey everyone,
Meta's revenue jumped 26% last quarter. Its headcount dropped 15%. Same company, same three months, opposite arrows.
That's straight from Meta's own filing, released October 21. Sales up, people down, and $34.9 billion spent on data centers and servers in a single quarter.
This week we're reading the filing so you don't have to, and what it says about where the entry-level jobs went.
// THE SHORT VERSION
What happened: Meta reported $64.60B in Q3 revenue (+26%) with 66,775 employees (-15% year over year), after cutting about 8,000 jobs in May.
Why you care: growth no longer means hiring. The money is going to compute, and Anthropic just published the same pattern for junior engineers.
What to do: this weekend, do a revenue-per-employee teardown of three companies you want to work for. It's a great interview talking point.
// BY THE NUMBERS
+26%
Meta's Q3 revenue growth, year over year
-15%
Meta's headcount, year over year
$34.9B
capex in one quarter, servers and data centers
Source: Meta Q3 2026 earnings release (SEC 8-K), Oct 21, 2026
// WHAT WE'RE READING
01
Meta Q3 2026 earnings release (SEC 8-K)
the primary source. Headcount, capex and the one-time legal charge are all on the first page. Short and surprisingly readable.
02
Anthropic Institute: How employment is changing at Anthropic
junior share of technical hires fell from 27% to 9%. One company, self-reported, but it is the clearest version of the pattern.
03
NY Fed: The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates
the quarterly tracker for grad unemployment and underemployment. Bookmark it before your next career-center meeting.
The Company That Grew 26% While Shrinking 15%
Meta's org chart rn
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Start with the setup, per Meta's Q3 earnings release (Oct 21, 2026). Revenue was $64.60 billion, up 26% from a year earlier. Headcount was 66,775 on September 30, down 15%.
Do the math and Meta booked roughly $967,000 of revenue per employee in one quarter. (That's our arithmetic: $64.60B divided by 66,775.)
Where the people went
May. Meta cut about 8,000 jobs. Per its Q2 filing, that cost $1.18 billion in severance.
June to September. Headcount fell from 75,472 to 66,775 as those employees dropped off the books. That's about 8,700 fewer people in one quarter (our math).
The money moved. Quarterly capex rose from $31.08 billion in Q2 to $34.91 billion in Q3, and Meta narrowed its 2026 capex outlook to $135 to $145 billion.
Quick vocab: capex is spending on things that last, like data centers and chips. The filing doesn't say this spend replaced those jobs. It just shows the two lines moving in opposite directions.
Read the fine print before you panic
Free cash flow was negative $2.12 billion, versus positive $10.63 billion a year earlier.
Also, diluted EPS of $3.83 includes a $9.89 billion charge tied to an August settlement with 52 state attorneys general over teen mental health litigation. Without it, EPS would have been $7.40, per the same filing. So this is not a company in trouble. It's a company choosing where to spend.
It's not just Meta
On October 16, the Anthropic Institute published a report on its own workforce. The junior share of its technical hires fell from 27% to 9%, and around a third of ML managers and a fifth of software engineering managers said they were hiring less due to AI. That's one company describing itself, so don't generalize it. But it rhymes with Meta.
The wider picture is rough but not catastrophic. The NY Fed's tracker has recent-grad unemployment at about 5.6% in 2026 Q2, with 42% underemployment.
✕ WHAT MOST CS STUDENTS DO
Wait for the market to “come back” and hiring to scale with revenue again.
✓ WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS
Show up as the person who ships more per head: own a project end to end, use the AI tools, and be able to explain every line you ship.
Revenue up 26%, headcount down 15%. Growth and hiring just filed for divorce.
Three things you can steal
1
Read the filing, not the headline.
Every number in this issue came from an SEC page anyone can open in two minutes. Recruiters notice students who do this.
2
Revenue per employee is a hiring signal.
When it climbs fast, teams are being asked to do more with fewer people. Expect interviews to probe how much you can own.
3
Follow the capex.
Where a company spends billions tells you which teams will be hiring: infrastructure, systems, ML platforms. Aim your projects there.
Quick answers
How many employees does Meta have in 2026?
Meta reported 66,775 employees on September 30, 2026, down 15% year over year, per its Q3 earnings release filed with the SEC on October 21.
Why is Meta's headcount falling while revenue grows?
Meta cut about 8,000 jobs in May 2026 and kept spending heavily on infrastructure: $34.91 billion of capex in Q3 alone, per its SEC filings. The filings do not say one caused the other.
Is entry-level tech hiring down because of AI?
Anthropic's Oct 16, 2026 report says junior workers fell from 27% to 9% of its technical hires, but it covers one company and is self-reported.
The market, minus the sugarcoating
// THE MARKET
5.6%
recent-grad unemployment, 2026 Q2
42%
of recent grads underemployed, 2026 Q2
Source: NY Fed, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates
Elevated, not collapsing. The squeeze is real, but it is concentrated in who gets hired for what, which is exactly why showing you can own work matters.
// YOUR MOVE · THIS WEEKEND, ~90 MINUTES
Do a revenue-per-employee teardown.
Pick three companies you'd want to work for. Open their latest earnings release on sec.gov and write down revenue and employee count.
Divide, then compare to last year. Note who is growing revenue while shrinking or flat on headcount.
Write 5 sentences on what that means for the role you're applying to. That paragraph is your interview opener.
Then hit reply with your best find.
// ROLES OF THE WEEK
Fresh this week. Every link was checked live.
Shield AI
Software Engineer 1 New Grad
Seattle, WA · New grad
1Password
Developer Intern - Developer Interfaces
Remote in USA · Internship
AECOM
Entry-Level Environmental Statistician
Grand Rapids, MI · New grad
MongoDB
Software Engineer Intern
Palo Alto, CA · Internship
ByteDance
Research Scientist New Grad - Video and Edge - Multimedia Lab
San Jose, CA · New grad
// MORE FROM JOBLESS
Meta's growth is no longer a hiring plan. Yours has to be one. Do the teardown, then send me the weirdest number you find.
// SUPPORT JOBLESS
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Hang out with us at r/joblessCSMajors.
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Until next time,
Team Jobless
