The layoffs are here –
When the Sunday afternoon at TCS was late, the message landed like a tornado. One year, 12,000 jobs will be redundant.
A few weeks ago, Microsoft's 9,000 cut sneaked in like a zombie, wiping out the entire team.
Throughout the technology industry, staff are now talking about the rocks approaching the sky.
Regardless of the industry you are in, layoffs are coming.
Layoffs: Amazing Numbers
The current tally has increased by that day. Between January and mid-July this year, 169 high-tech companies eliminated 80,150 workers (excluding TCS). The overall figure for 2024 was 152,922. In 2023 it was 264,220.
TCS' 2% trims point the middle and senior ranks straight, landing on top of 2,387 domestic technology layoffs over the past seven months. It also surpasses six startups that have completely closed operations.
“The way we work is changing. We must be prepared for the future and agile,” CEO K. Krithivasan suggests that TCS will “deploy AI at a large scale and evaluate the skills needed for the future.” Despite maintaining it, work was not reduced due to AI.
Why the cut is deeper compared to dot.com bubbles
| cycle | Annual Layoff | Industry drivers |
| dot.com (2000–02) | 800,000 | Speculation bubble, overfunding |
| Finance (2008-09) | 1,30,000 | Credit/Demand crash |
| Covid-19 (2020–22) | 1,67,600 | Post-pandemic fixes |
| Artificial Intelligence (2022–25) | 5,41,050 | Luxury, inflation, AI automation |
When nearly a million jobs evaporated, the absolute numbers remain modest besides the 2000-02 Bloodbath in America.
Previous cycles were about collapse in demand or speculative overload. However, since 2022, automation and AI-driven shifts have become the focus.
They are now targeting middle-aged, high-performance senior employees and everyday work. Over 500,000 team members have been evacuated over the past three years.
What are the layoffs this season?
Experts are confident that the current layoff cycle is different from previous recessions.
Two forces promote confusion.
The first is traditional economics. As the pandemic accelerates digital transformation, tech companies have increased their jobs between 2020 and 2022. Demand for e-commerce, cloud services, social media and online collaboration has nearly doubled their staff in hopes of continuing rapid growth.
However, since 2022, economies around the world have been stubbornly facing high inflation, driving costs for both consumers and businesses. This is combined with global supply chain concerns following ongoing geopolitical tensions. Efficiency and lean operations have become a priority for central executives as investors demand “sustainability” rather than “super-growth” models.
After US consumer prices skyrocketed to the height of the US Federal Reserve for four years, they hiked insurance rates from zero to 5.25-5.50%, near zero. That LEAP was filtered straight into corporate finance. A KPMG survey of nearly 300 companies shows that the average cost of debt has risen by 60 basis points, while the average average cost of capital has risen to 40 BP over the past year alone. As the hurdle rate increases, cash allocated for headcount is relocated to the software.
The second power is business-driven, novel and scary. Artificial intelligence tools have matured enough to threaten the engineers who built them. Microsoft says that around 30% of the code is generated by AI.
HR documents, customer emails, and call centre executives (jobs once scattered across dozens of medium-sized staff) can spit out on a larger language model in less time than a microwave lunch.
Previous recessions first insisted on internships with sales people. Today x is falling into a paying middle manager and everyday coder. Consultant firm Bain calculates that the median “AI displacement risk” for American software companies is three times higher than that of $200,000 per year staff members than $40,000 warehouse workers.
Because of less empathy, CEOs accepted the layoff norm
Bloodbath is easily accepted by Silicon Valley, claiming that all leaders are deeply influenced by their decisions, but hinting at them with the same breath, this is never ending.
“Strict decisions” are usually made by putting empathy aside. When Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence module teaches in business schools, it is one of the most important skills that leaders should have.
But that empathy is pushed aside to give space to bold, tough leadership. That's clear from all the statements issued by top CEOs after the layoffs. The latest Microsoft Chairman, Satya Nadella, called “imitation of success” the “mystery of success,” but there's no next wave.
With artificial intelligence at the core of the operation, “agility and innovation” is a new mission, and “security and quality are non-negotiable,” he added.
Mark Zuckerberg called the Meta layoff period “year of efficiency.” After laying off 3,600 employees in 2024, he said the recruitment was intended to make the company more lean and effective.
Sundar Pichai acknowledged that the alphabet was overturned based on past growth. Between March 2023 and March 2024, the number of employees across the company reduced by nearly the number of employees.
In 2022, when Elon Musk fired 80% of X's workforce, he insisted that Twitter needed to be converted to X, and made it clear, so he wanted a working culture that focused on long and high intensity. He expected the rest of his employees to become “very hardcore” to support his vision for the company.
Musk then set a tech industry precedent for aggressive cost reductions and restructuring.
The dissonance of social media layoffs is loud and clear
The subreddit, known as the “layoffs,” with 127k members, has been bombarded in anecdotes around the world, but mostly in the US and the technical division.
“All my family members have been fired,” he posted.
'Microsoft abandoned us. Cognizant didn't even pretend to take care of him,” he insisted another.
“Is there a disconnect between economic reporting and reality?” I wondered about Redditor.
Most of them were killed by conference room decisions taken by men who bring home millions of homes with AI models they built or pay packages.
The economic implications of layoffs
Many argue that large layoffs are releasing capital due to the vast spending of AI to increase both competitive advantage and operational effectiveness.
They help businesses stay competitive during economic headwinds, including global supply chain pressures, trade volatility and tougher consumer spending. This trend illustrates a practical step into a more lean workforce that allows talent to be rapidly redeployed towards the field of AI growth.
What's next? Investing in AI-focused talent
But even with layoffs abundance in the tech world, the giants are still caught up in the tug of talent.
Meta, Google and Openai have spent millions of people seducing top AI talents and offer compensation packages that exceed $100 million a year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Silicon Valley has witnessed unprecedented chaos, with invisible talent attacks, secret deals and betrayals exploding, leaving AI researchers as worth as NBA players and Hollywood stars. The high-tech CEO offers over $300 million salary packages to the most highly valued recruits.
The dichotomy is strict! The signs are clear. Like a juggernaut, artificial intelligence is trampling on work, rewarding the right skill set.
Consultant company McKinsey estimates that by 2030, the generator AI can add $4 trillion to global GDP annually. The risk is just as great. Tens of millions are left behind between outdated roles and future work.
If a previous slowdown trims corporate fat, today's algorithm carves the muscles of the tissue. Surviving companies are companies that can work on a daily basis, retraining people what machines still can't: judgement, empathy, invention. Survivors become people who continue to invest in self-development, become agile and continue to upgrade their skills.
