Are Tech Firms Really Firing Their IT Workers? No.
ComputerWorld, March 9th, 2023
Headlines about 'tech' layoffs abound, but the reports can be misleading. While Big Tech companies may be letting workers go, the layoffs aren't dominated by IT talent firings. In fact, there are fewer IT workers than job openings - a lot fewer.
The unemployment rate in the technology job market in the US is about half that of other fields - just 1.5% - so the onslaught of recent reports about major 'tech worker' layoffs can be confounding.
For example, current data from online tracker company Layoff.fyi shows that 465 tech companies have fired a total of 126,057 employees in 2023 alone. And, according to layoff tracker TrueUp, so far this year, 608 tech companies have announced layoffs, affecting 162,541 people (or 2,426 people per day). In 2022, there were 1,535 layoffs at tech companies with 241,176 people let go.