Tech sector layoffs – Statistics & Facts
In the face of a tumultuous global economy, 2023 proved to be a challenging year for the technology sector, marked by an unprecedented wave of layoffs that swept across the globe. Layoffs in the technology sector escalated significantly in 2023 amid growing economic uncertainty. As of December 2023, more than 262,000 employees at tech companies worldwide had been laid off during the year across more than 1,180 firms. More than two-thirds of the layoffs occurred in the United States, where major companies and startups have had difficulty maintaining their profit margins in an environment with concerns about high inflation, rising interest rates, slowing economic growth, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions.
What has led to an increase in layoffs?
Significant job losses in the tech sector first began trending at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when almost 70,000 employees at tech companies lost their jobs in the first and second quarters of 2020. This was due, in part, to lockdowns and mobility restrictions that forced companies to reduce costs. At that time, tech companies in sectors such as transportation, finance, and travel were the most affected.
Although job losses at tech noticeably decreased by the second half of 2020 through to mid-2022, tech layoffs re-emerged in the second quarter of 2022 amid changing consumer preferences, global economic disruptions, and a turbulent stock market. By 2023, tech layoffs reached a staggering peak with over 167 thousand employees laid off in just the first quarter. This figure not only set a record for the highest number of job cuts in a single quarter, but it also surpassed the total layoffs announced throughout 2022, marking a challenging start to 2023 for the technology industry before declining again towards the end of the year.
Even with the surge in layoffs, most tech companies are still vastly larger than they were three years ago. But industry analysts expect further industry cuts in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to increase interest rates as it hits the brakes on economic growth.
Here are the largest tech companies to announce staff reductions since 2022:
Alphabet (Google Parent): 12,000 (6%)
Amazon: 18,000 (1%)
Dell: 6,600 (5%)
IBM: 3,900 (1.5%)
Meta (Facebook Parent): 11,000 (13%)
Microsoft: 10,000 (5%)
PayPal: 2,000 (7%)
Salesforce: 7,300 (10%)
SAP: 3,250 (3%)
Tech as a portion of all layoffs
Locked and Loaded
I began my retail career as a Chief Information Officer at a specialty retailer in the DFW area. Times were good in the ‘90s, and jobs were plentiful. I caught the internet wave in 1995 and immediately saw how it would revolutionize the retail industry and every aspect of our lives. I blazed a bold trail by creating one of the retail industry’s first websites at The Bombay Company. By that time, I’d made a name for myself as a technology visionary which caught Microsoft’s attention. They hired me in 1999, where I spent fourteen years helping retailers harness emerging technology to differentiate their business through enhanced customer experience.
Dallas: The Bullet Has Landed
Shortly after I began my career at Microsoft, the dotcom bubble burst, which sent another layoff shockwave through most industries, including technology. Microsoft was still expanding, and while I didn’t see much impact at that time, layoffs – or RIF’s (reduction in force) – were common at the company and brutal. I was helping Microsoft build its first retail vertical business unit and, amazingly, managed to dodge the RIF bullet (which cut the workforce by 5%) every fourteen months for fourteen years.
In 2013 I joined SAP, a German multinational software company and the world’s leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor. SAP’s culture stands in stark contrast to my experience at Microsoft. Staff layoffs are rare, and I was surprised at the number of colleagues I met that had been with the company for 15, 20, and 25 years. Ironically, I witnessed two significant layoffs during my nine years at SAP, and I couldn’t dodge either bullet.
Attitude of Gratitude
Change is hard, which is why most people avoid it like the plague. I’ve never shied away from significant challenges, as I’ve learned they provide the most significant opportunity for personal growth. My first layoff occurred in 2019. SAP eliminated my entire division, no one saw it coming, and I was stunned. But by that point in my life, I’d figured out that sometimes the worst place you can be is alone in your own head. Years earlier, I began an earnest walk with Jesus and had become accustomed to trusting His will over mine. I’d put what I thought were significant challenges in His hands many times, but this one seemed overwhelming. Jobs at my level aren’t hanging on trees, and I had just thirty days to find another job within SAP – I had a vested interest in doing so. I began fervent prayer and tapped into a prayer chain at my church. Within a few weeks, a promising lead appeared. However, delays and obstacles encumbered the interview process, taking me to the final hours of my last day. To my utter amazement, I received a call from HR at the end of the day informing me that my hiring manager had called in some favors and rushed my application through in what I can only describe as a miracle…
The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg.
It's not about the circumstance but rather what you're made of.
Change How You Change
That experience forever changed my life. I saw an insurmountable obstacle, but God saw an excellent opportunity to expand my faith exponentially if I trusted His plan. And at that moment, for the first time, I understood James’ words in James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I had secured a new job, which was better than the one I’d had, and that one was great. But I gained a lot more than just a new job that day, I gained a new perspective on life through:
- A much more profound trust in God
- An attitude of gratitude
- An ability to look at everything differently from now on
If you Change the way you look at things,
the things you look at Change.
The Road Ahead
I no longer look at life’s massive roadblocks as devasting blows. I see them now as the gifts they are. They’re opportunities to deepen my faith in God and the door to exciting new adventures. I know I won’t always get what I want, but I trust that God will always give me what I need – according to His plan for my life (Jer. 29:11). And so it is with this latest challenge.