Layoffs 2024: Tech companies fire 30k employees in January this year

After a major firing spree throughout 2023 in major global tech companies, situation continues to remain bleak for employees across all major departments as over 30,000 tech employees have been laid off in January 2024.

According to data collated by Layoffs.fyi, over 30,000 employees have been fired from tech companies across the globe in just January this year, with UPS, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Accenture firing thousands withing weeks.

UPS accounts for 40 percent of the overall layoffs in tech companies in January 2024, firing over 12,000 employees in just one month. Google has laid off over 1000 employees in January, while PayPal has fired 2500 employees.

While Amazon has not disclosed the number of job cuts for January 2024, it is believed to be in thousands. Other major tech firms like YouTube, TikTok, Discord, ebay and Pixar have also collectively laid off over 5000 employees in the first month of the year.

In 2023, a total of 2,62,595 employees were sacked in 2023 by 1189 tech companies, according to Layoffs.fyi. Majority of these layoffs were due to surplus hiring during the pandemic and cost cutting amid high inflation rates.

With over 30,000 fired in just the first month of 2024, this year is projected to be worse in terms for job cuts as compared to last year. Google has already announced that there will be more layoffs later in the year, while two of the most prominent tech startups in India – Paytm and Byju’s – are undergoing are major financial crisis this year.

Layoffs in Indian startups

Indian tech giant Wipro announced that it will lay off hundreds of mid level employees in the coming weeks in an effort to boost its profit margins. Wipro is among the top four IT firms in India, but its margins are lower than TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, food delivery app Swiggy fired 400 employees in January 2024, while e-commerce company Flipkart laid off 1000 employees. In the last week of December 2023, Paytm announced it is firing 1000 employees across multiple departments as a cost cutting measure.

Over the course of last year, ed-tech company Byju’s fired over 5000 employees as it remained embroiled in a legal battle with lenders. As the company’s valuation has been cut more than 90 percent in the recent round of funding, employees are bracing themselves for fresh job cuts this year.