Tech Layoffs 2023

Billionaire property developer Tim Gurner said that "We need to see unemployment rise. We need it to rise 40-50%. We need to see pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around."

In the U.S. from 1978 to 2021, the typical worker’s wages grew just 18%. The wages of the top 1% of earners, however, grew 385%. CEO pay grew by more than 1,000%.

When you pay some attention: "The system is broken and needs to be fixed."
When you pay enough attention: "The system is working exactly as intended and needs to be destroyed."

The landscape of layoffs in 2023 has been significant and widespread across various industries, particularly in the technology sector. By November 2023, over 4,794 companies had announced layoffs, job cuts, and hiring freezes​​. The tech industry has been hit hard, with companies like Google's parent Alphabet cutting 12,000 jobs in January​​. Layoffs.fyi, a tracker for job losses in the technology sector, reported about 244,342 staff layoffs from 1,069 tech companies so far this year​​.

In a more detailed look, specific instances such as Pfizer's layoff of 781 employees​​, Charles Schwab's reduction of 5% to 6% of its workforce, totaling about 2,000 employees​​, and TVA Group's 500-plus employee layoff​​, highlight the scale of job cuts. Moreover, Crunchbase News tallied more than 182,761 workers laid off in U.S.-based tech companies in 2023, a significant increase from the 93,000 job cuts in 2022​​.

The impact on the tech sector is further emphasized by TrueUp's tracking, which reports 1,797 layoffs affecting 401,947 people in tech companies, averaging 1,288 people per day​​. These figures underscore a tumultuous period for employment in the tech industry and the broader corporate landscape, marking a challenging year for many workers globally.