417 tech firms lay off over 1.2 lakh employees in Jan-Feb alone

In total, nearly 3 lakh tech employees have now lost jobs in 2022 and till February this year.

New Delhi: The year 2023 is set to become the worst year for tech employees as in just two months, 417 companies have laid off more than 1.2 lakh workers globally.

In comparison, 1,046 tech companies — from Big Tech to startups — laid off more than 1,61 lakh employees in 2022, as per the data by layoffs tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

In January alone, close to 1 lakh tech employees lost jobs globally, dominated by companies like Amazon, search Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and others.

In total, nearly 3 lakh tech employees have now lost jobs in 2022 and till February this year.

As more and more Big Tech companies continue to sack employees, they listed various reasons behind the move — over-hiring, uncertain global macroeconomic conditions, strong tailwinds from the Covid-19 pandemic and more.

According to reports, Meta (formerly Facebook) is set for another big round of layoffs — similar to the one it announced in November last year — as early as next month once the performance bonuses are paid out.

Meta has reportedly given thousands of employees “subpar ratings” in a latest round of performance reviews, setting the stage for more layoffs at the company.

Swedish telecom gear-maker Ericsson is laying off about 8 per cent of its workforce, around 8,500 employees, to cut costs in the ongoing global macroeconomic conditions,

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co is reportedly planning to slash about 2,000 jobs in one of the largest layoffs.

Another major consulting firm KPMG is laying off 2 per cent of its workforce that will impact about 700 employees in the US, owing to a “sharp slowdown in its consulting business”.

Cloud infrastructure provider DigitalOcean is laying off about 11 per cent of its workforce, or nearly 200 employees.

Source.