2024 IT Industry: Recovery Shadows Amidst Massive Job Cuts

2024 IT Industry: Shadow of Recovery? Massive Workforce Reduction Continues

In 2024, the IT industry is facing challenges despite expectations of recovery. After significant workforce reductions over the past two years, the industry is still grappling with job cuts that are impacting its path to recovery.

Global IT Spending Forecast

According to estimates by Gartner, global IT spending is predicted to increase by 8% in 2024, surpassing $5.1 trillion. This spending growth is expected to contribute to the industry’s recovery.

Continued Impact of Layoffs

Unfortunately, the recovery of the IT industry has not translated into job stability for many employees. The workforce reductions in 2024 are an extension of the layoffs announced in 2023, indicating ongoing challenges in the field.

Major Tech Companies’ Job Cuts

In 2023, several major tech companies, including Amazon, Cisco, Facebook (Meta), Microsoft, Google, IBM, SAP, and Salesforce, announced significant job cuts. These layoffs were implemented as a response to declining revenue following a period of increased hiring during the pandemic.

2023 and 2024 Tech Workforce Reduction Data

According to data compiled by online tracker Layoffs.fyi, 1,186 tech companies laid off approximately 262,682 employees in 2023, a significant increase compared to 164,969 in 2022. In 2024, 35 tech companies have already laid off 5,586 employees.

Notable Tech Industry Layoffs in 2024

Several prominent tech companies have announced layoffs in 2024:

Alphabet (January 11)

Alphabet, including co-founder James Park and Eric Friedman from Fitbit, announced layoffs in its engineering, hardware, and digital assistant teams.

Twilio (December 4)

Twilio conducted its third major layoff, impacting its sales team.

Broadcom (December 1)

Broadcom laid off 1,267 VMware employees following its acquisition of VMware.

Amazon (November 20)

Amazon laid off hundreds of employees from its Alexa division to focus on generative AI.

Splunk (November 1)

Splunk reduced its workforce by 560 jobs as part of a global restructuring.

Nokia (October 19)

Nokia announced plans to cut up to 14,000 jobs due to a slowdown in 5G equipment demand.

Stack Overflow (October 16)

Stack Overflow laid off approximately one-third of its workforce to focus on its AI-based coding assistant.

Qualcomm (October 13)

Qualcomm plans to lay off 1,258 employees at its California office to address recent financial difficulties.

Meta (October 4)

Meta (Facebook) laid off employees from its Agile Silicon team after launching a new mixed reality headset.

Airtable (September 15)

Airtable conducted a second round of layoffs, reducing its workforce by approximately 237 employees.

Alphabet (September 14)

Alphabet conducted layoffs in its talent acquisition team to focus on technical talent.

SecureWorks (August 14)

SecureWorks laid off approximately 15% of its total workforce, around 300 employees, to simplify its business and support expansion.

Rapid7 (August 8)

Rapid7 announced plans to lay off approximately 18% of its global workforce, around 400 employees, as part of operational restructuring.

Cisco (July 20)

Cisco announced additional layoffs as part of its restructuring plan announced in November 2022.

Evernote (July 8)

Evernote laid off the majority of its employees in the United States and Chile and relocated to Italy.

Oracle (June 16)

Oracle laid off hundreds of Cerner healthcare division employees due to issues related to a project with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Zendesk (June 1)

Zendesk announced a new layoff plan to reduce its workforce by 8% to target enterprise customers.

LinkedIn (May 11)

LinkedIn laid off 716 employees and closed its job-seeking app in China.

Cognizant (May 4)

Cognizant reduced its workforce by approximately 3,500 employees, around 1% of its global workforce, for cost-cutting purposes.

Dropbox (April 27)

Dropbox laid off approximately 16% of its workforce, around 500 employees, and focused on AI.

Red Hat (April 24)

Red Hat laid off approximately 4% of its global workforce, around 800 employees, to strengthen its open hybrid cloud strategy.

Meta (April 20)

Meta (Facebook) initiated another round of layoffs, reducing its workforce by 4,000 employees, including technical staff.

Kyndryl (March 30)

Kyndryl laid off internal IT service employees to simplify operations and enhance competitiveness.

Accenture (March 23)

Accenture announced plans to lay off 19,000 employees, primarily affecting non-billable corporate functions, for cost-cutting purposes.

Amazon (March 20)

Amazon announced plans to lay off an additional 9,000 employees, including some from AWS, due to macroeconomic conditions.

Meta (March 14)

Meta (Facebook) announced an additional layoff of 10,000 employees due to macroeconomic conditions and the need for organizational efficiency.

Atlassian (March 7)

Atlassian announced plans to lay off approximately 5% of its workforce, around 500 employees, to focus on cloud and IT service management.

Twitter (February 27)

Twitter laid off 10% of its remaining workforce, including tech employees, as part of ongoing restructuring efforts.

Twilio (February 13)

Twilio reduced its workforce by approximately 1,400 employees and reorganized internally to establish two new business units.

Microsoft (February 10)

Microsoft reduced its workforce in its HoloLens, Xbox, Surface business units, and industrial metaverse team.

Yahoo (February 10)

Yahoo announced layoffs of approximately 20%, around 1,600 employees, as part of its advertising technology business restructuring.

GitHub (February 9)

GitHub laid off approximately 10%, around 300 employees, and transitioned the remaining employees to remote work for cost-saving purposes.

Zoom (February 7)

Zoom laid off 15% of its workforce due to concerns about uncertain macroeconomic conditions.

Dell Technologies (February 6)

Dell Technologies laid off approximately 5% of its total workforce, around 6,650 employees, due to decreased demand for PC sales and infrastructure requirements.

Splunk (February 2)

Splunk laid off approximately 4% of its workforce, around 325 employees, to optimize costs and processes amid uncertain macroeconomic conditions.

PayPal (February 1)

PayPal announced layoffs of approximately 7%, around 2,000 employees, in response to challenging macroeconomic conditions and a slowdown in e-commerce trends.

SAP (January 26)

SAP announced a workforce reduction of 2,800 employees as part of its restructuring efforts to align costs with revenue and invest in long-term growth areas.

IBM (January 26)

IBM divested its infrastructure management division and sold assets of its Watson Health business unit, resulting in the elimination of 3,900 jobs, approximately 1.5% of its global workforce.

Google (January 20)

Google announced layoffs of approximately 6%, around 12,000 employees worldwide, to align its cost structure with revenue.

ShareChat (January 18)

ShareChat, a social media startup backed by Google, laid off 20% of its workforce to prepare for economic headwinds.

Verily (January 12)

Verily, a life sciences company under Alphabet, reduced its workforce by 15% to streamline operations and product organizations.

Informatica (January 11)

Informatica announced a layoff plan to reduce its workforce by 7% for cost and process optimization.

Salesforce (January 4)

Salesforce laid off approximately 10%, around 8,000 employees, as part of its restructuring plan and closed some offices.

Amazon (January 4)

Amazon laid off over 18,000 employees primarily from its Amazon Stores, workforce, experience, and technology organizations.

Despite signs of recovery in the IT industry, ongoing challenges persist with significant job cuts impacting the workforce. As the industry navigates uncertain macroeconomic conditions, companies are implementing restructuring measures and optimizing operations to adapt to changing market dynamics.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is based on the news report and may not reflect the current or future state of the IT industry.