Mumbai, June 1: Tech layoffs hit many jobs last month leading to hundreds of people losing their jobs. In May 2024, the layoffs sparked concerns among the employees working in the tech industry. According to the global job cut tracking website 'Layoffs.fyi', around 39 companies laid off 9,742 in last month. Companies laid off these employees for many reasons.

According to reports, in April 2024, 50 companies cut 21,473 jobs by around 75%. It mentioned that previous month saw a 75% drop in layoffs compared to April. In May 2024, companies like Toshiba, Paytm, Walmart, Telstra, Pixar, and TikTok announced significant job cuts for this year. However, some tech and media companies already cut around a hundred people, including SeekOut, Foursquare, Media Matters, Fisker, Google Cloud and others. Google Cloud Layoffs: Google’s Cloud Unit Lays Off Unspecified Employees, Teams Focused on Consulting, Partner Engineering and Sustainability Affected Most.

Toshiba layoffs were announced to impact more than 4,000 people, while Paytm layoffs were rumoured to affect 5,000 to 6,300 employees. Last month, the e-commerce giant Walmart also told thousands of its workers to relocate unless they were laid off. Australian telecommunication giant Telstra announced that it will cut 2,800 roles and finalise the numbers by the end of 2024. It was also reported that Tesla layoffs led some employees to live in fear about potentially getting laid off with a 'Dear Employee' email. 

According to the Layoffs.fyi website, in 2024, 304 companies laid off 89,193 employees globally. Since it is June, more layoffs are expected before the year ends. In 2023, 1,191 companies let go of 2,63,180 employees, higher than in 2022, when 1,064 companies cut around 1,65,269 roles. So far, in 2024, nearly 90K people have already lost their jobs until May.

Many companies initiated large-scale layoffs, including those in tech-related industries like automobiles, software, media, and more. Many factors contributed to companies resorting to mass layoffs in May 2024. Some of these were business restructuring, cost-cutting, advancements in automation, economic situations, declining demand, and severe competition in the market. Recently, Google Cloud laid off unspecified teams of people from its units. No Layoffs: Infosys CEO Salil Parekh Confirms Integrating GenAI To Enhance Efficiencies for Growth and Expansion While Retaining Employees.

According to a report, the job cuts represent the difficulties faced by different industries. However, it also highlighted that the decline in the efforts to reduce the workforce could indicate that companies are managing their priorities without significantly impacting jobs. Recently, Infosys announced that it would integrate GenAI to promote growth and expansion but would not lay off employees, opting a different route than the companies letting go employees once they choose automation and AI. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 01, 2024 06:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).