Layoffs in the information technology sector – especially in companies such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, etc -- has been making global headlines since the past few weeks.

According to layoffs.fyi, a website tracking layoffs across the globe, the total layoffs across the globe was around 1.39 lakh employees in 2022. However, around 1.03 lakh employees have already been laid off across the globe till February 20, 2023. That is almost three-fourths of 2022’s figures. (Layoffs above 100 employees in a company/startup have been considered for analysis in this report.)

Nearly 38 per cent of layoffs have been reported from San Francisco Bay Area alone in the first 51 days of 2023. Companies such as Google and Salesforce that announced massive layoffs recently are located in Bay Area. Bay Area was followed by Seattle at 17 per cent. Companies such as Amazon and Microsoft are located here.

Segments

The consumer segment (dominated by companies such as Google and Yahoo) contributed a share of 14.13 per cent in the total layoffs in the first 51 days of 2023.

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Retail segment came second with 12.33 per cent with companies such as Amazon, Wayfair, Groupon and eBay contributing a significant share to it.

 

In 2022, major layoffs were seen in the consumer (13.33 per cent) segment from companies such as Meta, Twitter and Snap, among others. This was followed by retail segment with Amazon and Shopify being the major contributors.

Massive layoffs in the Mumbai and Shanghai offices of the Chinese company Bytedance made the consumer segment lead the layoff list in 2021 with a share of 23.79 per cent. The real estate segment followed it with 19.16 per cent with companies such as Zillow and Better.com laying off their staff.

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The Covid pandemic that hit the globe in 2020 led to a massive layoff in the transportation segment with companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Ola leading the list at 20.41 per cent. With a share of 19.39 per cent in the total layoffs in 2020, the travel segment was second on the list. Companies from the travel sector such as TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Agoda, and Booking.com witnessed massive layoffs that year.

Also read: Apple avoids job cuts because it didn’t overhire like Google and Amazon

Indian scenario

The website layoffs.fyi tracks companies from centres such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida in India. Data available with it shows that layoffs in India were 26.44 per cent of the total global layoffs in 2021. In the Covid-hit 2020, these figures were 18.23 per cent of the total global layoffs.

India’s share in global layoffs came down to 9.71 per cent in 2022. Though there has been massive layoffs across the globe in the first 51 days of 2023, India’s share in it was around 3.42 per cent.

This year’s layoffs till February 20 is being led by education segment (42.17 per cent) followed by food and consumer segments at 14.05 per cent each.

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