Trends in Tech Layoffs

90,000 tech workers laid off in the first 97 days of 2026. Oracle cut 30,000 in a single day. Block cut 40% of its workforce. Atlassian cut 10%. The operating narrative for this is "re-founding." Airtable, Handshake, Atlassian, and Opendoor have all used the word publicly. Some have backed it with genuine product transformation. Others have used it as a more presentable explanation for right-sizing. More of these companies are framing their actions as an AI-oriented transformation. "Re-founding" carries weight because it borrows from the gravity of creation. It implies that this is not just a feature or version upgrade; this is existential. The question worth asking is whether this reallocation will produce a genuine transformation or whether the language of re-founding is simply providing a more palatable frame for what would have been called layoffs in any other era. Despite the optics, a real and necessary shift is happening in software right now. Building an AI-native company is fundamentally different from building a traditional SaaS company across every dimension: margins, product development, sales motion, pricing, and even what you look for in an executive team. The companies that understand this and rebuild accordingly will define the next decade. The companies that relabel their layoffs as "re-founding" and change nothing else will quietly disappear. This is also the Jevons Paradox playing out in real time. When AI lowers the unit cost of code, tech companies build more software, not less. This is leading to a shift in organisational design and in the dispersion of talent. A Harvard study tracking 62 million workers found that junior employment at AI-adopting firms drops 7.7-10% within six quarters. Senior technical employment keeps rising. A Stanford study found that developer employment for those aged 22 to 25 fell 20% from its 2022 peak, while those over 26 held steady. AI is not just replacing software engineers. It is reshaping who gets hired and at what level. Demand for software is increasing. What is changing is the type of software being built, the teams building it, and the business models sustaining it. Companies that understand this distinction will build stronger organisations. Companies that use "re-founding" as cover for hollowing out their talent pipeline are eating the seeds needed for their future harvests. In the end, the word re-founding is only as meaningful as its outcome. Does the company come out the other side with more relevant products, better unit economics, a clearer growth trajectory, and a reason for its customers to use it repeatedly? That is the only reason to endure the pain of a re-founding. What are you seeing in your operating environments today, and how do we respond to the gap between narratives and reality?

#TechLayoffs The last 12 months have made one thing very clear.This is not an isolated set of layoffs. This is a coordinated shift in how large technology companies are thinking about capital, talent, and growth. Look at the pattern. #Oracle: ~30,000 roles #Intel: ~25,000 roles #Amazon: ~16,000 roles #Microsoft: ~9,000 roles #Block: ~4,000 roles Along with ASML, Ericsson, Atlassian, Meta and Salesforce. Different sectors. Different business models. Same outcome. This is not coincidence. It is alignment around a new operating reality. Take Oracle as a signal, not an exception. Strong financial performance, yet one of the largest workforce reductions. At the same time, significant commitments toward AI infrastructure and long-term compute investments. That tells us something important. This is not distress-led reduction. This is reallocation of capital from people-heavy layers to infrastructure-heavy bets. Intel reflects a similar pressure from a different angle. High capital intensity, cyclical demand, and the need to stay competitive in advanced manufacturing. The response: reduce operating load while protecting strategic investments. Amazon and Microsoft show another dimension. After years of aggressive expansion, both are recalibrating workforce size to match a more measured growth curve, while continuing to invest deeply in AI, cloud, and platform capabilities. Block, Meta, and Salesforce point to a third pattern. Efficiency is no longer a side objective. It is a core metric tied directly to market expectations. Now layer in the broader signals. 1.17 million job cuts in a year. Sharp decline in entry-level hiring. Growing attribution of layoffs to AI. But the underlying driver is more fundamental. The hiring excess of the zero-interest period is being corrected. AI is becoming the narrative wrapper around that correction. And here lies the real leadership question. Are organizations simply reducing cost? Or are they redesigning how work gets done? Because cutting headcount without rethinking workflows, skills, and accountability only delivers temporary relief. There is also a long-term risk building quietly. When entry-level roles shrink, the future leadership pipeline weakens. The gap will not be visible today, but it will surface when organizations look for experienced leaders who were never developed. The more considered approach is already visible in pockets. Redeploy talent across adjacencies. Invest in reskilling alongside technology spend. Break roles into tasks and apply AI with precision. Protect the early career funnel. Because this moment is not testing AI capability alone. It is testing how leaders balance efficiency with continuity. The companies that stand out will not be the ones that cut the deepest.They will be the ones that convert this reset into a more resilient, productive, and future-ready workforce model. That is where #strategy proves its value. Jensen statement about CEO's firing is #inefficient DC*

Companies aren't just laying people off due to AI. They're removing entire levels. Your next promotion might not work the way you think. There's a structural shift happening inside major tech companies right now that isn't getting enough attention. It's not just layoffs. Companies are actively removing layers of management and compressing their org charts, and it's changing how careers in tech actually work. Amazon kicked this off in late 2025 when SVP of HR Beth Galetti outlined a plan to "reduce layers, increase ownership, and remove bureaucracy." They've since accounted for over half of all tech layoffs in 2026. But the key detail is that these cuts are structural, not performance-based. They're eliminating positions that won't be backfilled. Meta took it further. Their new applied AI division runs at a 50-to-1 employee-to-manager ratio, double what's traditionally considered the outer limit (25:1). To operate at that ratio, you have to collapse multiple management tiers into one. And this isn't just a Big Tech experiment. Gallup found the average number of direct reports per manager jumped from 10.9 to 12.1 in a single year (2024-2025). Analysts project that by end of 2026, 1 in 5 companies will use AI to significantly reduce their middle management ranks. So what does this mean for people building careers in tech? When companies compress from 7-8 levels to 5, the leveling structure shifts. This would likely mean wider bands, more competition within each level, and fewer stepping-stone roles. And likely generally less hiring overall. This is one of the most significant shifts in tech org design in years. We’re still collecting details on specifics, but we can be sure of one thing: the org charts of 2027 are going to look very different from 2024. Something worth paying attention to as the layoff news continues to roll in.

Tracking Tech Industry layoff news has been one of the ways I help my clients stay ahead of the rapidly changing market. Here's why I do it. ...and why you should too. 1. I can see where 'demand' is shifting. - Layoffs rarely hit a company evenly. Watch which teams get cut and which get protected. That tells you where priorities actually sit, not what the PR says. 2. I can help clients time outreach. - Companies often freeze hiring for 30 to 90 days after or during a layoff period, then quietly rebuild. In some cases, this rebuild is rapid (like with big companies like Amazon). Candidates who track these trends can network into a team before roles ever get posted. 3. I can see hiring patterns (some extend beyond tech). - If one company cuts a product or service, it's likely others will follow. In some cases, this could be an indicator that 'slower-to-respond industries' (like finance or manufacturing) could move in a similar direction in the future. 4. I look for reasons - Big "restructuring" efforts usually indicate strategic pivots, which tells me what products, services, and tech might be phasing in or out. This also speaks volumes about which skills and experiences might be rising or falling. 5. Know your competition. - A wave of similar layoffs can flood the market with a specific skill set. If you're seeking in this space, this could mean a lot of things: stiffer competition, uncertainty in the role, etc. 6. Leadership and culture signals. - One layoff might be noise. Repeated layoffs paired with executive turnover are a pattern. Worth digging into before you accept an offer: multiple layoffs can do real damage to strong cultures. If you're interested in following along, Here are some resources I recommend: - Trueup: trueup(.)io/trends - WARNTracker - Layoffs(.)fyi Happy job seeking y'all! PS - What else would you add to my list?

AI layoffs aren’t just about cost-cutting anymore, they’re also about making room for AI-driven strategies. We’re seeing some of the biggest names in tech restructure their workforces, not because they’re struggling financially, but because they’re reorganizing around AI: Microsoft cutting ~6,000 roles across Xbox, LinkedIn, and Azure Dell letting go of ~12,000 people as it pivots to AI infrastructure and edge computing Chegg losing 22% of its workforce due to AI disruption in edtech Duolingo trimming 10% of staff as it shifts to being “AI-first” Google, Meta, Salesforce, HP, IBM, PwC, Klarna — all making similar moves It’s a clear signal: companies aren’t just experimenting with AI, they’re reshaping themselves around it. That’s exciting for innovation, but also unsettling for workers whose jobs are being automated, redefined, or eliminated. From what I’ve seen working with companies, the real work isn’t just “going AI-first.” It’s figuring out how to redesign org structures, workflows, and roles so that people and AI actually add value together, instead of one replacing the other. What have you seen?

Record profits at Google, Meta, and Microsoft. 23,000+ employees laid off across these big tech companies. They're not cutting costs. They're cutting specific human tasks. Microsoft: 6,000 jobs cut across Xbox, LinkedIn, and Azure. Reason: "Restructuring for AI alignment." Google: 1,200 layoffs in sales and partnership roles. Replaced with AI systems handling routine customer interactions. Meta: 5% workforce reduction expected by 2026. Zuckerberg's priority: "AI-first" operations for repetitive tasks. Salesforce eliminated 1,000 positions. Mostly in marketing coordination and data entry roles. AI agents now handle what used to require human processing. PwC cut 1,500 US employees. Their reason: "Post-pandemic workforce correction and automation of routine analysis." Big tech companies aren't laying off people because business is bad. But because AI has become good enough at specific, routine functions. Dell announced 12,000 layoffs. Pivot to "AI infrastructure" while hiring AI specialists. Duolingo cut 10% of their workforce. Shift to AI handling repetitive content tasks. Klarna cut 700 jobs, replacing basic support interactions with AI chat systems. But here's what's different about big tech layoffs: Previous job cuts were about economic downturns. These cuts are happening during growth periods at companies with massive AI adoption budgets. These companies are profitable. Revenue is up. Stock prices are climbing. The specific tasks being eliminated: Routine customer service responses. Basic marketing coordination. Simple data processing. Entry-level analysis work. The jobs AI can't do completely on its own yet. Meanwhile, the same big tech companies are hiring: AI engineers. Machine learning specialists. Prompt engineers. Human-AI collaboration roles. The distinction is crucial: For Big tech (Google, Meta, Microsoft): AI replacement of routine tasks + massive AI budgets = net job reduction in some functions. Most other companies = AI creating new roles + need for AI-fluent humans = net job growth. According to the World Economic Forum: 170M new opportunities are emerging globally as companies outside big tech seek AI-fluent talent. The pattern is clear: - Big tech: AI replaces routine human tasks - Everywhere else: AI creates demand for AI-fluent humans The companies thriving long-term aren't just automating tasks. They're asking: How can AI handle routine work so humans focus on creative problem-solving? Where can automation free people for higher-value collaboration? How can technology amplify human potential rather than replace it? The AI task automation is happening in big tech first. The AI job creation is happening everywhere else. Choose to become AI-fluent. The economy is creating roles for humans who can work with AI, not against it.

Part 1 — The Great Tech Reset: Why Layoffs Are Still Rising in 2025 After a quiet summer, tech layoffs have surged again this fall — and the cuts are no longer isolated to startups. Layoffs.fyi reports over 113,000 roles cut in 2025 so far, while TrueUp’s tracker places it closer to 177,000. Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce all trimmed teams again this year, with Amazon’s latest wave reaching 14,000 corporate jobs. But this isn’t a replay of 2022’s panic. This is a structural reset. 1️⃣ The AI Trade-Off Big Tech is shifting capital from people to power. Data centers, chips, and model training require billions in investment, forcing companies to reallocate budgets from slower-growth orgs and redundant management layers. Leaders call it “realignment.” Employees experience it as the quiet collapse of mid-level roles — particularly in marketing, operations, and legacy product groups. 2️⃣ Overhiring Hangover The pandemic-era hiring boom created bloat. From 2020 to 2022, headcounts soared as remote demand exploded. Now, the normalization of growth and higher capital costs are forcing corrections. The result: steady cuts instead of crisis layoffs. The industry isn’t falling apart — it’s rebalancing around efficiency and margin. 3️⃣ Changing Demand, Not Disappearance Despite layoffs, nearly half a million tech jobs are still posted nationwide. What’s shifted is what companies need: ·        AI and data engineering ·        Cloud reliability and cybersecurity ·        Roles that cut cost per compute, not just build new features Tech unemployment remains low — but opportunity is narrower. The market is rewarding depth over breadth. In short: 2025 isn’t a crash — it’s a controlled burn. The industry is pruning to fund the next evolution: the AI infrastructure era. Info@NortecStaffing.com #TechLayoffs #FutureOfWork #AIShift #HiringTrends #WorkforceReset #TechIndustry #RecruitingInsights #EconomicTrends #DigitalTransformation #LeadershipInChange #Restructure #TalentMarket #JobMarket2025 #TechEconomy #InnovationShift #AIandWork #StaffingStrategy #BusinessTransformation

There’s a lot of news right now about layoffs in tech. And yes, parts of the market are tough. But the reality is more nuanced. In Q1 2026, over 45,000 tech layoffs were recorded globally, with more than 30,000 in the U.S. Companies like Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, and Salesforce are all restructuring, often driven by automation, cost discipline, and a shift in investment toward AI. At the same time, demand for AI talent is accelerating rapidly: • 92% increase in hiring for AI-related roles • ~56% salary premium for top candidates • Massive capital investment (Meta alone committed $115–135B to AI in 2026) So what’s actually happening? It’s a reallocation of talent. Companies are: • Reducing operational and legacy roles • Reinvesting heavily into AI, data, and engineering • Hiring fewer people, but at a much higher bar That’s why both things can be true at once. Layoffs are rising, while competition for top data and AI talent is intensifying. The real gap in the market isn’t a lack of jobs. It’s a mismatch of skills. Professionals with experience in: • Machine learning • Data platforms • AI product development • Applied AI and LLM systems are in extremely high demand. Meanwhile, roles that can be automated or augmented are under increasing pressure. The next 12–24 months will be defined by how quickly companies and individuals adapt to this shift. If you’re not evolving with it, you’re getting left behind. If you’re in data or AI, this is still one of the most opportunity-rich markets out there. If you’re hiring, the bar is rising quickly.

Don't Panic: Massive layoffs aren't coming in 2024. Newsweek's headline would love you to think they are. But all you have to do is go an inch deeper into Resume Builder's report to get past the fear-mongering. The headline data sounds pretty awful: 38% of ~900 business leaders surveyed said they expected to conduct #layoffs in 2024, 22% say they'll impact >30% of their staff. Why? 70% said to reduce costs, 50% said driven by #recession fears (ahem, again?) and 40% by #AI. But ... all you have to do is read the report itself where Resume Builder shares that 65% of the same leaders said they did layoffs in 2023. "Leaders expect to do fewer layoffs in 2024" isn't as attention-grabbing, is it? Reality check: layoffs overall in 2023 didn't spike at all. The second image below of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) data shows 2023 was flat. There were clearly sectors that had some pretty heavy layoffs -- all of us in #tech certainly felt it, as did #media and some in professional services. Some of that's likely to continue into 2024, especially in tech and media. 🔮 So, what's likely to happen in 2024? 👩🏽💻 #GenAI will impact some roles. There are already signs of impact in freelance writers. We're now a decade plus into efforts to augment or replace customer support with #chatbots. But you're more likely to be replaced by someone who's good at using #AI than be replaced by #AI itself. 💸 #Recession fears are lower this year than last year. Given that the US inflation rate is now below the Fed's target, the three forecasted rate cuts are likely to result in growth, not a downturn. 👋🏽 As a leader, you need to sweat #retention, not layoffs. Recent research by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says 28% of workers don't see themselves at their current employer by end of year. Much more to come on that one, check out Debbie Lovich's post this morning! What's your take? Will layoffs surge in '24? #FutureOfWork #leadership #research #data

With tech layoffs in the headlines again, what does the latest data on unemployment insurance claims say about the state of tech layoffs? Perhaps surprisingly, UI claimants from the Information sector* in January actually fell 2% month-over-month, continuing to decline after peaking in summer 2023. How do we square that data with the headlines? Recall that a year ago, the layoffs in the news were in the tens of thousands for some of the major tech companies like Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, whereas the recent layoffs haven't reached that scale with the largest announcement in the thousands. And on top of that, the layoffs that get featured in the headlines might not be representative of the job market or even just the tech industry as a whole. Layoffs are always happening even in good times. Before Covid, a low year for layoffs in the Information sector would still be ~300,000 people laid off. This is not to say everything is hunky-dory in tech. The level of UI claimants are still higher than much of the 2015–2020 pre-pandemic baseline and hiring has slowed down significantly, but this is a piece of quantitative context to caution against relying just on anecdotes to formulate a picture of the job market. #tech #layoffs