Over 95,000 tech-sector employees lose jobs since start of 2023

More than 95,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi.

The website’s tally of global tech layoffs this year has more than tripled since mid-January, Market Watch reports.

The data suggests that 2023 is firmly on pace to surpass 2022 for global tech redundancies, with 308 tech companies laying off 95,508 employees since the start of the year. Last year, 1,024 tech companies laid off a total of 154,336 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.

Layoffs.fyi was set up by San Francisco–based startup founder Roger Lee to track job cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee is the co-founder of Human Interest, a digital 401(k) provider for small businesses, and Comprehensive, an employee-compensation platform.

This week Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, 1.32 per cent joined the growing list of tech companies making layoffs when it announced plans to cut approximately 5 per cent of its workforce. PayPal Holdings Inc.  PYPL, -0.56 per cent recently announced 2,000 layoffs, or about 7 per cent of its global workforce, and both International Business Machines Corp.  IBM, -0.57 per cent and SAP SAP, -0.87 per cent also announced layoffs. In January, Google parent Alphabet Inc.  GOOGL, 2.53 per cent GOOG, 2.43 per cent confirmed plans to lay off about 12,000 workers globally, while Intel Corp.  INTC, -0.03 per cent said it was slashing hundreds of jobs in Silicon Valley.

Microsoft Corp. MSFT, 2.70 per cent also confirmed plans to cut about 10,000 positions. Earlier reports from Sky News and Bloomberg had indicated that the software maker was preparing to make cuts.

Spotify Technology SPOT, 0.62 per cent has also joined the list of companies making layoffs this year. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the streaming service said it was reducing its workforce by about 6 per cent, which translates to about 588 jobs.

And earlier in January, Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, -6.70 per cent  announced it would eliminate 950 jobs in an effort to cut costs.