Percentage of workforce laid off because of COVID-19, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, business employment size, type of business and majority ownership.

The tech industry had a rough start to 2024. Technology companies worldwide saw a significant reduction in their workforce in the first quarter of 2024, with over 57 thousand employees being laid off. By the second quarter, layoffs impacted more than 43 thousand tech employees. In the final quarter of the year around 12 thousand employees were laid off. Layoffs impacting all global tech giants Layoffs in the global market escalated dramatically in the first quarter of 2023, when the sector saw a staggering record high of 167.6 thousand employees losing their jobs. Major tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and IBM all contributed to this figure during this quarter. Amazon, in particular, conducted the most rounds of layoffs with the highest number of employees laid off among global tech giants. Industries most affected include the consumer, hardware, food, and healthcare sectors. Notable companies that have laid off a significant number of staff include Flink, Booking.com, Uber, PayPal, LinkedIn, and Peloton, among others. Overhiring led the trend, but will AI keep it going? Layoffs in the technology sector started following an overhiring spree during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, companies expanded their workforce to meet increased demand for digital services during lockdowns. However, as lockdowns ended, economic uncertainties persisted and companies reevaluated their strategies, layoffs became inevitable, resulting in a record number of 263 thousand laid off employees in the global tech sector by trhe end of 2022. Moreover, it is still unclear how advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) will impact layoff trends in the tech sector. AI-driven automation can replace manual tasks leading to workforce redundancies. Whether through chatbots handling customer inquiries or predictive algorithms optimizing supply chains, the pursuit of efficiency and cost savings may result in more tech industry layoffs in the future.

In 2020, among the surveyed domestic private enterprises in Vietnam, ** percent of micro-sized private firms revealed that they laid off their employees due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, among the surveyed FDI enterprises in the country, around ** percent of the large-sized firms reported that they reduced their workforces during the pandemic.

Of businesses or organizations where at least one employee was laid off, percentage of workforce laid off and rehired due to COVID-19, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership.

As of January 2024, the tech startup with the most layoffs was Amazon, with over 27 thousand layoffs, across five separate rounds of layoffs. It was followed by Meta and Google with around 21 thousand and 12 thousand job cuts announced respectively.

Layoffs in in the technology industry

Overall, layoffs across all industries began in 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with tech layoffs increasing in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, more than 167 thousand employees had been fired worldwide, a record number of job cuts in a single quarter and more than all of the layoffs announced in 2022 combined, marking a harsh start to of 2023 for the tech sector. From retail to finance and education, all sectors are suffering from this widespread downsizing. However, retail tech startups were hit the most, with almost 29 thousand layoffs announced as of September 2023. Most job losses happened in the United States, where tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Google are based.

Reasons behind increasing tech layoffs

Layoffs in the technology sector started with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when entire cities were in lockdown and mobility was restricted. Although restrictions loosened up in 2021, events such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the downturn in Chinese production, and rising inflation had a significant impact on the tech industry and continue to represent major concerns for tech companies. As a consequence, companies across the world have yet to overcome all economic challenges, examples of which are rising material and labor costs, as well as decreasing profit margins. To address such difficulties, tech companies have appointed business plans. For instance, in the United States, tech firms planned to focus more on consumer retention, automating software, and cutting operating expenses.

The COVID-19 pandemic that spread across the world at the beginning of 2020 was not only a big threat to public health, but also to the entire sports industry. Several professional sports leagues, including the NBA and NHL, as well as most professional soccer leagues in Europe, took the decision to postpone or suspend their seasons in order to mitigate the spread of the disease. This unprecedented step has had huge financial implications for many professional teams who have had to come to a decision about what to do with their employees. During a March 2020 survey, some ** percent of respondents stated that they would have a much less favorable view of a professional sports team that decided to lay off part-time and hourly workers.

Percentage of businesses with layoffs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership.

Compared to February 2020, roughly 24.4 thousand people have become unemployed and 39.2 thousand people temporarily laid off mainly because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Finland. As of November 2020, the highest spike in the numbers of unemployed jobseekers and temporary layoffs during 2020 was recorded between March 30 and April 5 (week 14).

COVID-19 impact on unemployment Although the full-blown consequences of the coronavirus pandemic remain uncertain, the monthly unemployment rate spiked in Finland in May 2020. While many people have lost their jobs, even a larger group of people have been temporarily laid off. In order to avoid mass layoffs in companies, the Finnish government reduced the period of notice before layoff until 31 December 2020. However, it remains to be seen, to what extent temporary coronavirus layoffs turn permanent in the long run. Nonetheless, based on a forecast, the unemployment is expected to stay at a higher level in the upcoming years than before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Uneven prospects As of April 2020, the majority of Finnish people were still not particularly worried about the risk of losing a job or income because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, especially students are at risk of losing their income, as seasonal work has become scarce due to restrictions and business closures. This can potentially lead to long-term negative consequences for the income and career development of young people.

In 2024, the tech sector experienced a significant number of layoffs, with the hardware industry hit the hardest with over **** thousand employees laid off that year. Close behind was the transportation sector, which witnessed over ** thousand layoffs. In general, over a third of all tech layoffs in 2024 occurred during the first quarter, with the number of laid-off tech employees decreasing quarter-on-quarter for the remainder of the year.

Due to the safety restrictions put in place during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many museums worldwide had to close to the public. As a result, some institutions furloughed or laid off staff in order to face the financial losses caused by closures. According to an October 2020 study, employees of U.S. museums working for guest services, admissions, frontline, and retail were the most affected by these budget-cutting measures. Overall, 68 percent of surveyed institutions claimed to have furloughed or laid off staff working in frontline positions. Meanwhile, 40 percent of museums involved in the study implemented furloughs or layoffs to employees working in education departments.

As of March 2023, a cumulative total of around 35.7 thousand employees in the manufacturing industry in Japan were planned to be fired due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The list of planned displacements of workers in the country grew to a total of approximately 144 thousand since the outbreak.

As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the beginning of 2020, many of the leading Norwegian companies have been forced to notify large numbers of employees about "permittering", or temporary layoffs. Approximately 7.5 thousand employees were laid off by one of the leading hotel chain in the Nordic and the Baltic regions, Nordic Choice Hotels.

The first case of COVID-19 in Norway was confirmed on February 26, 2020. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

In 2020, among the surveyed FDI enterprises in Vietnam, ** percent of firms in the information and communication sector laid off their employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by the leather and garments production sectors. Overall, around ** percent of FDI firms participating in the survey reported having to lay off employees that year.

Staffing actions taken by businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, business employment size, type of business and majority ownership.

The annual survey studied employee opinion on the quality of working life in Finland. Main themes included organisation of work, development opportunities and flexibility, learning and training at work, wages, workplace bullying, capacity to work, and changes in working life. Questions in the barometer have mainly remained the same each year. The 2020 collection round included new questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. First, the respondents were asked about the number of people employed at their workplace, changes in the number of staff, distribution of work and tasks, and implementation of new working methods and systems over the past 12 months. Satisfaction in the working environment was charted with questions about openness, encouragement and equality in the workplace, job stability, and opportunities for employees to develop and apply new ideas. Further questions covered measures taken to improve employees' capacity to work, safety of work environment, and skills of employees. Discrimination at work based on ethnic group, age, gender, type of job contract, and health status was explored. Incidents of bullying, harassment and violence at work were surveyed. The next set of questions investigated the respondents' membership in a trade union or professional association, flexible working time arrangements at the workplace, pay and bonus systems, and satisfaction with the pay level. The respondents' participation in job-related training and the contents of the training (e.g. IT, leadership skills, communication skills) were surveyed. The development of the workplace was also investigated. The use of virtual workspaces and social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs as part of work tasks was charted. Autonomy at work was surveyed by asking about influence over own work tasks and working pace, over the distribution of work in the workplace, and about working to a tight schedule. The respondents were asked about work-related calls, emails and messages they had had to attend to outside their official working hours in the past 12 months. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working conditions was investigated with questions on whether the respondents had worked remotely before the COVID-19 pandemic, whether they had started to work remotely because of the pandemic, whether they now had to do more remote work than before the pandemic, and how satisfied they had been with remote work during the pandemic. One set of questions investigated the employees' perceived workload, capacity to work, estimates of own mental and physical capacity to work, and sickness absences. Additionally, the respondents' experiences of stress, mental exhaustion, and excitement related to work were surveyed. The respondents were asked whether they had been temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether their working hours had been reduced because of the pandemic, and how the pandemic had impacted their workload. The respondents were asked how likely they thought it was that they would be dismissed or temporarily laid off, or that their tasks would change over the next year. Finally, views were probed on the respondents' likelihood of getting an equal job if they became unemployed, on the general employment situation in Finland, possible changes in working life in general, and the employer's financial situation. Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, age, gender, status in employment, employer type, industry of employment, type of contract, weekly working hours, overtime, and socioeconomic status.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unemployment and layoffs across the world, and hit youth particularly hard. This was particularly the case in South Asia, where the employment deficit was estimated to be above 12 percent in 2020 and 2021, compared to 2019 employment levels. Meanwhile, the deficit was estimated to have turned in Western, Southern, and Northern Europe by 2022.

Following the return to "normalcy" after the COVID-19 pandemic, online food delivery services face lower demand and stiff competition in the global market. Since January 2021, several startups in the sector have announced layoffs. By June 2025, Istanbul-based Getir had laid off approximately ***** employees and announced it was exiting European markets.

Effect of Lockdown on their regular activities, physical and mental health, and relationship.

Recent headlines depict significant shifts in operations within the freight community in particular, e.g., HOS laws suspended at a national level for the first time in 82 years1; national carriers shifting operations completely to grocery supply chains2; fleet operators laying off employees in response to manufacturing closures3. As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, there is a great need to capture freight movement data (not otherwise collected) to measure the effects of the COVID-19 response and recovery practices on freight network resiliency. In this project, we consider an expanded definition of the freight network, beyond roads and warehouses, to include truck drivers and driver support systems.

Driver support systems include physical infrastructure like public and private rest stops as well as operational protections like Hours of Service (HOS). COVID-19 responses by public agencies and private citizens have affected drivers and driver support systems by three mechanisms. First, increased demand for medical supplies, food and packaged goods creates a need for more trucks and drivers, and the increased need for quick shipments promotes an environment in which speeding and unsafe driving practices may prevail. Second, with HOS restrictions lifted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) driver fatigue may occur at greater frequency leading to unsafe driving conditions and higher likelihood of accidents. Third, the effects of social distancing mandates can lead to closures of critical, but oft forgotten, freight infrastructure like rest areas and truck stops, leaving drivers without necessary rest opportunities. While any single mechanism has detrimental effects on driver health and safety, the economy, and national recovery efforts, when combined, the system can be pushed to failure. Pandemic responses have only exacerbated critical industry issues like driver shortages, lack of available parking, and HOS compliance issues stemming from electronic logbooks. The purpose of this work was to develop and implement a driver health and safety survey during the pandemic.

Percentage of businesses with layoffs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership.