Global tech giants shed 230k workers in 2023 alone

"233,537.” This is the cumulative number of people laid off at major global tech companies this year tallied by Layoffs. fyi, a U.S. website specializing in tracking corporate layoffs, based on the compiled data of company announcements and major media reports. As of September 4, the number has already surpassed last year's total tech industry downsizing figure, which stood at 164,744.

The downsizing reached its peak in the first quarter of this year, with 167,398 employees laid off. Although the numbers have gradually decreased since then, the anxieties over job security persist. This can be attributed to the deteriorating performance of the tech industry after the COVID-19 crisis and the difficulties in raising capital due to the repercussions of rising interest rates. Microsoft, for instance, announced plans to cut over a thousand additional jobs in July despite a 19.9% increase in second-quarter net profit compared to the previous year, reaching $20.08 billion.

Even in the relatively flexible U.S. tech industry, where employment and layoffs are common, such massive downsizing has sparked social debates, prompting the emergence of a phenomenon known as "quiet cutting." The Wall Street Journal reported on August 27 that tech companies such as Adobe and IBM are making more subtle moves encouraging employees to leave voluntarily through measures like job reassignments instead of formal layoffs.

Domestic tech companies in South Korea are also continuing with "invisible structural adjustments" this year as their financial situations worsen due to a prolonged economic downturn. Jeon Seong-min, a professor in the Department of Business Administration at Gachon University, commented, "In fact, this is the first structural crisis that the tech industry has faced after making steady growth since around 2010, which makes it even more challenging for them to cope.”


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