- Google hardware, voice support and engineering staff have been affected
- Google last year unveiled plans to cut 12,000 jobs worldwide
- Data shows that more than 260,000 jobs were cut in the technology sector in the past year
Google has laid off hundreds of employees working on its global hardware, voice assistant and engineering teams as part of a cost-cutting effort.
The Alphabet tech giant did not reveal exactly how many jobs have been cut, but some reports suggest “several hundred” positions have been cut globally, while others indicate more than 600 jobs have been cut.
Google’s augmented reality hardware team is said to have been severely affected.
A year ago, Google said it would lay off 12,000 employees, or about 6 percent of its workforce, in an effort to cut costs.
More than 260,000 employees in the global technology sector were laid off last year, according to data collected by the website Layoffs.fyi.
Job cuts: Google has laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistant and engineering teams
In a statement, a Google spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘As we have said, we are investing responsibly in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead.
“To best position ourselves for these opportunities, several of our teams have made changes in the second half of 2023 to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources with their biggest product priorities.
“Some teams continue to make these types of organizational changes, including eliminating roles globally.
“Any proposed change to the organizational team is subject to local regulations and processes. We continue to support all affected employees as they seek new roles here at Google and beyond.”
In a post on X, the Alphabet Workers Union described the job losses as “another round of unnecessary layoffs.”
Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in the technology sector over the past year as they determine to streamline their operations and reduce costs.
The cuts peaked in January 2023, when 89,579 people lost their jobs, affecting more than 270 businesses.
In January 2023, Microsoft confirmed plans to cut 10,000 jobs across its global operations. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the layoffs were due to a drop in investment.
In May 2023, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta revealed plans to lay off another 10,000 staff and place a new hiring freeze as part of a ‘Year of Efficiency’.
Meta’s restructuring, which also saw the closure of an additional 5,000 vacancies without hiring, came months after the group announced a new wave of 11,000 layoffs.
This week, Amazon’s livestreaming site Twitch announced plans to cut 35 percent of its workforce, which amounts to about 500 employees. The group is struggling to strengthen its balance sheet against the backdrop of higher costs.
There have also been casualties in the world of crypto, which has been plagued by persistent instability. Coinbase and Crypto.com have both made significant cuts in 2023.