Tech Layoffs Slowing Down

Technology giant Microsoft revealed on Monday that it had laid off 276 employees. Affected roles included customer service, sales and support.

Microsoft's last-known layoffs took place in March of this year when the company axed its artificial intelligence ethics and society team as part of the mass cuts that the software giant announced in January.

In mid-January, Microsoft said it would eliminate 10,000 roles in the coming months, citing the global economic downturn. At the same time, a host of other tech companies cut significant numbers of jobs.

In January, Alphabet announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs. In April, Meta announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs. These were some of the most significant numbers, with tech website Techcrunch reporting that over 200,000 jobs have been shed in the sector year to date.

Meanwhile, task-management application developer Evernote also announced over the weekend that it was moving operations to Europe, meaning that 98 employees would be laid off.

Despite the large number of laid-off tech employees so far this year, analysts point out that U.S. layoffs in the tech sector halved in June compared to May cuts. June's tech job cuts were the lowest since October 2022, when mass layoffs in various tech companies and tech giants started.

Some market watchers contend that the decline in job cuts is not unusual for the summer months as June has historically logged the lowest average number of layoffs announcements.