Global mass layoffs near 300,000
By Zion Rufus
As some of the world’s most valuable firms continue to initiate massive job cuts, experts have predicted that the global mass layoffs could hit 300,000 before the end of 2023 as companies continue to grapple with the effects of the post-pandemic era and one of the worst economic downturns in history.
In 2022, there were at least 159,846 layoffs from more than 1,044 tech companies according to Layoffs.fyi, a company tracking tech layoffs. So far in 2023, Layoffs.fyi has recorded about 101807 from more than 340 tech companies, bringing the total number of layoffs to 261,653.
These global job cuts continue to accelerate in 2023 with Disney CEO Bob Iger telling investors Disney will fire 7000 global staff and cut $3 billion from its content budget. Yahoo will also lay off more than 20% of its workforce by the end of 2023, eliminating 1,000 positions this week alone.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan announced layoffs of 1,300 employees in an email on Tuesday, February 7th, 2023. As part of that announcement, Yuan said he will also reduce his salary by 98% this year, while other executives will see a 20% cut.
On its part, Dell on February 6th, 2023 announced it will be laying off 6,500 people from its workforce as another cost-cutting measure in addition to hiring freezes and travel restrictions the company had already put into place. IBM said it will be cutting roughly 3,900 positions.
Google, in January announced that 12,000 employees would be laid off, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that the company is making changes that will result in 10,000 jobs being eliminated through the end of March 2023.
Meanwhile, Amazon plans to cut 18,000 jobs worldwide centered around corporate and technology jobs; these initial layoffs are just the beginning of Amazon’s overall plan to consolidate certain teams. The company is also offering a voluntary severance buy-out package to employees who resign on their own.
These companies, and more, blamed economic downturns, restructuring efforts, global inflation, and the ever-changing macro-economic environment, as the causal factor for the sweeping layoffs and job cuts by companies in the tech industry.
Facebook had cited macroeconomic downturns in November 2022 when it laid off 11,000 members of its workforce.
The company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg revealed: “We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go.”
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