The events of the last few years could not have been predicted by anyone. From a global pandemic and remote work as the standard, to a subsequent hiring craze, rising inflation, and now, mass layoffs.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, essentially laid off the equivalent of a small town just weeks ago, letting go of 12,000 people—the biggest layoffs the company has ever seen in its history. Additionally, Amazon and Microsoft have also laid off 10,000 workers each in the last few months, not to mention Meta’s 11,000.
This visual puts the current layoffs in the tech industry in context and ranks the 20 biggest tech layoffs of the 2020s using data from the tracker.
The Top 20 Layoffs Since 2020, layoffs in the tech industry have been significant, accelerating in 2022 in particular. Here’s a look at the companies that laid off the most people over the last three years.
Rank Company # Laid Off % of Workforce As of
#1 Google 12,000 6% Jan 2023
#2 Meta 11,000 13% Nov 2021
#3 Amazon 10,000 3% Nov 2021
#4 Microsoft 10,000 5% Jan 2023
#5 Salesforce 8,000 10% Jan 2023
#6 Amazon 8,000 2% Jan 2023
#7 Uber 6,700 24% May 2020
#8 Cisco 4,100 5% Nov 2021
#9 IBM 3,900 2% Jan 2023
#10 Twitter 3,700 50% Nov 2022
#11 Better.com 3,000 33% Mar 2022
#12 Groupon 2,800 44% Apr 2020
#13 Peloton 2,800 20% Feb 2022
#14 Carvana 2,500 12% May 2022
#15 Katerra 2,434 100% Jun 2021
#16 Zillow 2,000 25% Nov 2021
#17 PayPal 2,000 7% Jan 2023
#18 Airbnb 1,900 25% May 2020
#19 Instacart 1,877 — Jan 2021
#20 Wayfair 1,750 10% Jan 2023
Layoffs were high in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, halting the global economy and forcing staff reductions worldwide. After that, things were steady until the economic uncertainty of last year, which ultimately led to large-scale layoffs in tech—with many of the biggest cuts happening in the past three months.
The Cause of Layoffs
Most workforce slashings are being blamed on the impending recession. Companies are claiming they are forced to cut down the excess of the hiring boom that followed the pandemic.
Additionally, during this hiring craze competition was fierce, resulting in higher salaries for workers, which is now translating in an increased need to trim the fat thanks to the current economic conditions.
Reference Report from Visual Capitalist:
Learn more here at https://www.visualcapitalist.com/americas-20-biggest-tech-layoffs-since-2020/