March 17th, Financial Connect News (Editor: Zoe Yi)
According to data from Layoffs.fyi, a website tracking layoffs in the technology industry, over 200 tech companies have laid off more than 50,000 employees since the beginning of this year.
This trend follows the wave of layoffs in 2023, known as the "Year of Layoffs," during which over 260,000 employees lost their jobs across nearly 1,200 tech companies.
This year, there have been layoffs at Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, along with eBay, Unity Software, SAP, and Cisco.
Cost-cutting measures by tech companies have thrilled Wall Street, pushing many tech stocks to record highs. Optimism prevails as controlled spending coupled with efficiency gains from artificial intelligence are expected to drive profits up.
However, for the thousands of tech workers who have been laid off, the path to reemployment is challenging.
Data from the reemployment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that 2023 saw the second-highest number of layoffs in the tech industry's history, second only to the dot-com bubble burst of 2001.
During the dot-com bubble crisis, companies like Pets.com, eToys, and Webvan collapsed, resulting in the highest number of tech workers losing their jobs in such a short period since then.
Data also reveals that February of this year saw the highest level of layoffs since 2009, when the financial crisis forced companies into cash conservation mode.
Significant Disparities
According to some unnamed individuals who have been laid off from the tech industry over the past year, the market competition is intensifying, with stricter qualifications for recruitment and lower salaries compared to previous jobs.
For software developers and data scientists, this is particularly perplexing as they had some of the most marketable and highly valued skills just a few years ago, but are now contemplating whether to exit the industry for other positions.
Roger Lee, co-founder of Layoffs.fyi, said, "The market has changed dramatically. Many sales and recruiting professionals have completely left the tech industry to secure a new job. Even engineers are compromising—accepting less stable, more challenging work environments, with lower pay and benefits."
Lee also cited data from the compensation benchmark platform Comprehensive.io, indicating that salaries for most positions in the tech industry have "essentially stagnated" over the past two years.
However, there are significant disparities in the current market within the tech industry. Lee noted that while layoffs continue elsewhere, the field of artificial intelligence is driving a rapid return to hiring and expansion.
According to Comprehensive.io's data, the salaries of AI engineers grew by 12% from the third to the fourth quarter of last year, with the average salary for senior AI engineers nationwide surpassing $190,000.
