Tech sector layoffs for 2023 surpass whole of last year

The number of layoffs in the tech sector for 2023 is already higher than last year, amid a carnage in Silicon Valley.

According to data tracker Layoffs.fyi, nearly 169,000 people have been laid off since January, compared to the 164,411 laid off in all of 2022.

It comes as a spate of the world’s largest companies have cut their workforces in recent months in an effort to cut costs in an era of high interest rates and uncertainty.

Last month, Facebook owner Meta said it would lay off an additional 10,000 employees — just months after the social networking group cut a record 11,000.

Google’s parent company Alphabet, plus Amazon, Salesforce, Spotify and Microsoft have all made significant layoffs.

The tech world has struggled with growth over the past 12 months, in part due to increasing competition from the likes of TikTok and budget pullbacks from overstretched advertisers.

As a result, more experimental projects have also faced the ax as companies become aware of the challenges of innovation in a much softer economic environment.

And there’s also the thread of overhiring during the pandemic, which Amazon, among others, has cited as the main reason behind the record 27,000 jobs.

Ben Barringer, an equity analyst at research firm Quilter Cheviot, said there was “a lot of relaxation to be had” as people spend less time looking at their screens than they did at the height of the pandemic.

And he suggested there could be more to come than the number already announced.

Data from Layoffs.fyi suggests that when tech companies cut back, they do so with more force than before.

About 566 companies have laid off staff in the past four months, compared to 1,054 throughout 2022. This means that each company will lay off an average of 300 people in 2023, compared to an average of 155 last year.

iPhone maker Apple remains a major outlier that has yet to announce major job cuts.