According to the layoff tracking platform Layoffs.fyi AccordingAs of June 2024, around 99,672 employees have been laid off. These employees are from more than 344 companies, including tech giants like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta. A large number of these include companies that have been continuously cutting jobs since the time of Covid. Even though the main reasons for these layoffs have not been revealed, one of the many reasons can certainly be the tremendous growth in AI technology.
While giants like Twitter (now known as X) and Meta have been doing layoffs for the past few years, this year the figure appears to be bigger, as only half the year has passed. For comparison, according to the tracker, 263,180 employees were laid off by 1,191 tech companies in 2023 and 165,269 people were laid off by 1,064 tech companies in 2022. In such a situation, reaching the number of one lakh by the middle of the year is a matter of concern.
At the same time, Indian origin companies are also involved in the layoffs, some of the big names of which are Flipkart, Simpl, Ola, Scaler, Byju’s and Swiggy. 23 companies headquartered in India have together laid off more than 1,600 employees so far in 2024, of which Flipkart alone laid off 1,100 employees.
Earlier this month, Microsoft reportedly laid off more than 1,000 employees across various businesses, including its Azure Cloud division and mixed reality unit, citing the company’s strategic mission. At the same time, Microsoft reduced 1,900 jobs mainly from its gaming division after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.