Dumb move, Elixir has around 1000 job openings in the U.S while Ruby has 35000. In fact I find it pretty hard to believe they can't get a Ruby job in the U.S, and they choose Elixir from all stacks as a solution to their problem. Sounds to me like they just wanna try Elixir and can't really build a good argument in their head on why they're doing it. Jobs-wise things are definitely not gonna be easier for them with Elixir.
Hopefully that is what Github and Shopify brings to the table. Instead of just using Rails they are now actively shaping its future direction.
>because a lot of the large employers have given up and shut down the RoRs projects
My impression is that the vast majority of Rails communities don't care much about its ecosystem growth. They are just happily using it.
My opinion, typed/tooled is useful when the desired solution/behavior/concept is complex.
It's still got most of what made Ruby a joy to work with and several unique advantages, too!
Even then - there's no real path to a mature and maintainable language/framework. In my area (Atlanta) we're seeing a glut of RoR devs available because a lot of the large employers have given up and shut down the RoRs projects in favor of anything more suitable to teams in the 15 to 500 engineer range. Usually this has been typescript/java/.net.
Even within the RoR guys I know - a LOT of them are trying to get out and work with something else (several folks I know are moving to elixir)