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.

Introduction

Employee Layoff Statistics: Employee layoffs are a prevalent cost-cutting strategy employed by companies during economic downturns or organizational restructuring. In 2024, the technology sector alone witnessed over 136,000 job losses across 422 companies, with major firms like Intel, Cisco, and IBM implementing significant workforce reductions. Intel, for instance, announced plans to lay off 15,000 employees, constituting more than 15% of its workforce, as part of a USD 10 billion cost-reduction initiative.

The financial implications of layoffs extend beyond severance packages. For example, when Meta Platforms Inc. laid off 11,000 employees in November 2022, it incurred approximately USD 975 million in severance costs, averaging over USD 88,000 per employee. Additionally, companies often face indirect costs such as decreased productivity among remaining staff, increased turnover, and higher unemployment insurance taxes.

In India, the impact of layoffs has been significant as well. By August 2024, at least 8,000 individuals had been affected by job cuts, with companies like Paytm announcing reductions of up to 3,500 employees. Furthermore, Reliance Industries reportedly reduced its workforce by 11%, equating to approximately 42,000 jobs, to enhance cost efficiency.

These figures underscore the widespread and multifaceted impact of layoffs on both organizations and employees, highlighting the importance of strategic planning and support mechanisms during such transitions. This article includes recent trends and facts from insights gathered in 2024 and 2025. Let's delve into key statistics to get a clearer picture of the topic.

In 1990, the unemployment rate of the United States stood at 5.6 percent. Since then there have been many significant fluctuations to this number - the 2008 financial crisis left millions of people without work, as did the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2022 and throughout 2023, the unemployment rate came to 3.6 percent, the lowest rate seen for decades. However, 2024 saw an increase up to four percent. For monthly updates on unemployment in the United States visit either the monthly national unemployment rate here, or the monthly state unemployment rate here. Both are seasonally adjusted. UnemploymentUnemployment is defined as a situation when an employed person is laid off, fired or quits his work and is still actively looking for a job. Unemployment can be found even in the healthiest economies, and many economists consider an unemployment rate at or below five percent to mean there is 'full employment' within an economy. If former employed persons go back to school or leave the job to take care of children they are no longer part of the active labor force and therefore not counted among the unemployed. Unemployment can also be the effect of events that are not part of the normal dynamics of an economy. Layoffs can be the result of technological progress, for example when robots replace workers in automobile production. Sometimes unemployment is caused by job outsourcing, due to the fact that employers often search for cheap labor around the globe and not only domestically. In 2022, the tech sector in the U.S. experienced significant lay-offs amid growing economic uncertainty. In the fourth quarter of 2022, more than 70,000 workers were laid off, despite low unemployment nationwide. The unemployment rate in the United States varies from state to state. In 2021, California had the highest number of unemployed persons with 1.38 million out of work.

Meta Platforms had ****** full-time employees as of December 2024, down from ****** people in 2023. As of December 2023, more than ******* employees at tech companies worldwide were laid off throughout the year across more than 1,000 companies. Facebook: how it all beganIn 2003, a sophomore at named Mark Zuckerberg hacked into protected areas of the university's computer network in order to find photos of other students. He then would pair two of them next to each other on a program called “Facemash” and ask users to choose the more attractive person. At the beginning of 2004, Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook,” a social network dedicated to Harvard students, which later grew to encompass Columbia, Yale and Stanford. The popularity of this new service sky-rocketed and in mid-2004, Zuckerberg interrupted his studies and moved his operation to Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. By 2006, Facebook was open to the general public. In 2020, the company reported almost ** billion U.S. dollars in revenue and a net income of ***** billion US dollars. It is also the most popular social network in the world, with *** billion monthly active users as of December 2020. Facebook employee diversity criticismLike many other tech companies, Facebook has been criticized for having a diversity problem. As of June 2020, tech positions, as well as management roles in U.S. offices were overwhelmingly occupied by men. Furthermore, almost ** percent of Facebook employees in the U.S. are White and only *** percent are African-American, which has sparked concern regarding representation and equal opportunities. Around **** percent of senior level positions are occupied by White employees and only *** percent by Hispanic-Americans.

Social media and image sharing platform Pinterest had 4,666 full-time employees at the end of its fiscal year 2024, an increase of 652 employees on the previous year. Over the past couple of years, tech companies have seen worldwide layoffs.

As of March 2025, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and X (previously known as Twitter), was the richest person in the global tech industry with an estimated net worth of 312 billion U.S. dollars. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, followed with a net worth of 217 billion U.S. dollars. Elon Musk and Twitter/X On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk bought the social network Twitter for around 44 billion U.S. dollars and became its CEO. Since Musk’s acquisition, the company has experienced some adjustments, including a name change to X and the option for users of becoming verified members for eight U.S. dollars per month. Moreover, there has been reports of increasing hate speech and the platform after Musk's takeover. Other tech billionaires and their companies Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft ranked 5th. Today, Microsoft develops consumer and enterprise software, services, and consumer electronics. In its 2023 financial year, Microsoft generated revenues of just under 212 billion U.S. dollars. By contrast, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, ranked third. The company, previously known as Facebook, was rebranded in 2021 and its products include Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Despite their wealth, these companies are not immune to the layoffs that have plagued the tech industry, which are affecting Meta and Amazon employees the most.