Tech layoffs in 2024 reach 89,000, a lot of job cuts and positions gone from 302 companies. Big players like Tesla, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, as well as smaller startups, were affected. For instance, in January, about 19,350 people lost their jobs, followed by 15,589 in February, 7,403 in March, and a big hit of 22,352 in April.
May wasn’t any better, with over 9,654 more layoffs. Many companies had to make tough decisions, like cutting back on staff or even shutting down completely. This data comes from Layoffs.fyi, a website tracking job losses in the tech sector.
January 2024 Tech Layoffs
- Thinx, a company in New York City, let go of 95 workers.
- Proofpoint, a global company, cut around 6% of its total workforce, which is about 280 employees.
- Wattpad, another company, laid off about 15% of its workers.
- Block, which includes Cash App, Foundational, and Square Arms, had to say goodbye to approximately 1,000 employees.
- PayPal started laying off employees across the whole company, affecting thousands of people.
February 2024 Tech Layoffs
- Fisker, a company, plans to let go of 15% of its workers because of money issues.
- EA, a big company, is cutting around 5% of its employees, which means about 670 people, as it changes its focus away from “developing future licensed IP.”
- Bumble, another company, is laying off about 30% of its workers, which is around 350 employees.
- Apple might be saying goodbye to hundreds of employees who worked on their self-driving car project.
- Sony’s PlayStation unit had to let go of 900 workers, about 8% of the division’s employees.
Job Cuts in March 2024
- ChowNow had to let go of 20% of its workers after buying another company called Cuboh.
- Nintendo of America changed its testing department, making some new full-time jobs.
- Dell, a big company, reduced its global workforce by about 6,000 jobs, according to official documents.
- Synctera, another company, cut staff, affecting around 15% of its employees, which is about 17 people.
- ShopBack got rid of 195 positions as part of a plan to be more sustainable, as explained by CEO Henry Chan.
Tech Layoffs in April 2024
- Elon Musk’s Tesla cuts more jobs from its charging team.
- Google recently let go of about 200 workers from its Core teams. Most of these job cuts affected engineering jobs in Sunnyvale, California. This downsizing effort started last year when Alphabet, Google’s parent company, said they wanted to reduce their workforce by about 6%. Additionally, Google is also laying off some people from important teams like Flutter, Dart, and Python.
- Vacasa, a company, had to say goodbye to 800 employees, which is about 13% of its workers, because they’re reorganizing.
- Brilliant, another company, had to let go of most of its workers and stop selling its smart home stuff while they look for someone to buy the company.
- Enovix, a company, had to lay off about 170 workers, which is about one-third of its total employees, to save money.
Tech Layoffs in May 2024
- Cue Health shut down and had to let go of its remaining workers.
- Foursquare cut 105 jobs as part of a plan to change things in the company.
- Lucid Motors, a car company, had to say goodbye to about 6% of its workers, which is roughly 400 people, as they get ready to launch their first electric SUV.
- TikTok, a popular app for short videos, let go of 1,000 workers from its operations and marketing teams worldwide. They didn’t say much about why, but experts think it might be to save money, especially with all the rules changing for big social media companies.
- Pixar plans to cut about 14% of its staff, which is around 175 employees, because they want to focus more on making movies instead of shows for Disney+.
- The job-searching website Indeed had to let go of about 8% of its workers. Most of the people affected were in the US, and the layoffs hit the research and development team especially hard.
Impact of Tech Layoffs on Employment Trends
The layoffs in the tech industry have left many employees unhappy, as seen on social media. But despite this, the job situation in the US is still good overall, with low unemployment rates and jobs being created in other areas. However, in March, layoffs went up by 7%, hitting their highest point since January 2023.
Companies say they need to cut costs and reorganize, which is why they’re letting people go. Although there were fewer layoffs in the first part of 2024 compared to last year, some sectors, like energy and manufacturing, are actually cutting more jobs this year. Andy Challenger, from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said many companies are trying to do more with fewer people.
Shift in Tech Industry Work Culture
The tech industry, which has always been about making a lot of money quickly, is changing how it works. Instead of just worrying about keeping your job and getting good benefits, companies are now more focused on being efficient and making money fast. This change is shown in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. He thinks we should go back to caring more about writing code and less about having lots of rules and managers.
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