Technology-driven companies across industries have been laying off workers at the fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic shocked the global economy in 2020, according to one data tracker.
Collectively, employers in the slumping tech sector cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022, based on estimates from Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks the events as they surface in media reports and company releases.
That figure compares with about 80,000 layoffs in March-December 2020 and 15,000 in all of 2021, based on data compiled on the site.
The tally was created by San Francisco internet entrepreneur Roger Lee, who launched the tracker after the pandemic struck “as a side project to create awareness around all of these tech layoffs, in the hopes of helping laid-off employees find a home.”
The estimates include large employers such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
(more than 11,000 layoffs announced in November) and Amazon.com Inc.
(about 10,000 possible job cuts), as well as smaller businesses in the US and abroad.
In the first year of the pandemic, tech employers announced more than 80,000 job cuts from March through December, according to Layoffs.fyi.
In 2021, the website tracked far fewer layoffs among tech companies.
Then in 2022, tech companies laid off more than 150,000 workers amid rising interest rates and signs of a cooling economy.
Consumer and retail were the two hardest-hit parts of the tech sector in 2022, combining for about 40,000 layoffs. Facebook parent Meta Platforms accounted for roughly half of the cuts in the consumer group, while Amazon represented about half of those in retail.
Nearly 100 healthcare-related tech companies laid off an estimated 11,000 employees in 2022.
Many education-tech companies grew early in the pandemic when schools shut down and online learning spread. In 2022, ed-tech employers announced more than 8,000 job cuts.
Travel-related tech companies were hit hard by layoffs in 2020 because of lockdowns and pandemic travel restrictions. In 2022, travel was among the areas that had the least job losses.
The figures are rough estimates and do not capture all layoffs, but reflect a trend that is playing out in many of the largest tech companies.
For years, many tech companies aggressively added workers amid strong revenue growth and rising share prices. The hiring pace picked up during the pandemic as individuals and companies leaned on technology to help get through lockdowns and other Covid-related disruptions.
Now, the same businesses are laying off employees, implementing hiring freezes and cutting costs, as spending on tech products slows and the outlook for digital advertising dims. Some CEOs have apologized for growing their payrolls too fast.
The pullback in tech hiring has happened at a time when the broader labor market has shown signs of resilience. There are several reasons for the apparent disconnect between news of tech firms cutting workers and the monthly government reports showing overall US payrolls maintaining steady growth—one of which is that many laid-off tech workers are finding new jobs quickly.
About 79% of workers recently hired after a tech-company layoff or termination landed their new job within three months of starting their search, according to a ZipRecruiter survey of new hires.
—Peter Santilli contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Barnett at [email protected] and Ming Li at [email protected]
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