Tech Layoffs Come Back With a Vengeance: 80,000 In January, Approaching 200,000 Total
After layoff activity in the tech industry quieted down around the holidays, it’s come back with a vengeance in January. According to our Layoff Tracker, 80,076 job eliminations have been announced or completed since the beginning of the year. The total number of tech layoffs since we began tracking in late August is now 195,856.
This past week alone, substantial layoffs were announced by Ericsson (5,000), Intel (6,000), and Microsoft (5,000). The biggest job loss by far is the 34,000 employees of Circuit City, which announced it is going out of business last week.
Among startups, layoffs hit Digg, Federated Media, and O"Reilly Media. Even Google was not immune, with 100 internal recruiters losing their jobs, many more contractors, and rumors swirling that more cuts may be on the way.
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