The new year brought a new wave of layoffs across U.S companies. According to data crunched by Warn Tracker and layoffs.fyi, so far this year companies laid off more than 30,000 employees. So far, in 2024, data shows the tech industry announced the biggest layoffs.
Major companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are cutting more than 1,000 jobs, despite reporting major revenue boosts in the months preceding their announcements. According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the media industry cut more than 800 positions in January — that's up 11% from the same time last year. Just this week, Paramount, which owns CBS, cut 800 jobs — just two days after its Super Bowl coverage broke viewership records.
Experts say companies point to cost-cutting as the main driver for layoffs. Other factors experts cite include preparing for potential policy changes after the November election, increased automation and adoption of artificial intelligence.
Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, says with AI technology now easily accessible to the public, they're seeing a sweeping impact to the workforce.
"Some of the biggest impacts are for some of these white collar roles and unsurprisingly to these technologies are happening right now in the tech industry. We are seeing with these types of tools being able to write code and do these tech tasks," said Stahle.
While the layoffs are significant, the job market remains resilient. The latest jobs report shows last month the economy added a robust 353,000 jobs.
US job market remains strong despite recent layoff announcements
Despite several massive rounds of layoffs, the U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs, keeping unemployment below 4% for 24 straight months.
