Time is not going well for IT companies. The number of unemployed people is increasing rapidly in the new year. More than 100,000 workers have been laid off in the world in just one and a half months which means, the retrenchment that started after the lockdown is still going on.
Experts fear that the impact of this layoff could be severe in the future.
According to Layoffs, a crowdsourced database of layoffs in the technology sector, 1,180,007 workers have been laid off in 2023 at around 340 technology companies around the world. In the wake of the global recession, tech companies have laid off workers as a cost-cutting measure.
In 2023, several companies including Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon have laid off workers massively. Google has cut 6 percent of its workforce, or 12,000 workers, the most of any company. Microsoft lays off 10,000 workers. Amazon also laid off about 8,000 workers.
Additionally, Salesforce cut 8,000 jobs, Dell cut 6,650, IBM cut about 3,900, SAP cut about 3,000, Zoom cut about 1,300, and Coinbase cut about 950. At the same time, HP Inc. cut 6,000 jobs and Cisco Systems Inc. cut 4,000 jobs.
Not only that, Yahoo- one of the pioneers of the Internet era is going to lay off staff recently. Yahoo has announced 20 percent of the company’s layoffs, or 1,600 jobs, due to a slowdown in its ad tech business. Employees were told last Thursday that 12 percent of the company (1,000 employees) will be laid off over the next week. Another 8 percent—or 600—employees will lose their jobs over the next six months.
Microsoft-owned GitHub also announced layoffs of about 10 percent, or 300 workers, in the coming quarter. The company said it will vacate its office and fully vacate it once the lease expires.
Recently, Dell Technologies cut about 6,650 employees, or about 5 percent of the company’s workforce. The company’s co-chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, said: ‘Dell believes the market is headed for an uncertain future as a result of the continued collapse. That is why this step is being taken.’
It is to be noted that, a total of 3 lakh 58 thousand 474 workers have been laid off in 2 thousand 225 technology companies around the world after the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of these layoffs took place in 2022. A total of 1 lakh 59 thousand 846 workers lost their jobs from 1 thousand 44 technology companies.