Tech layoffs noticeably dipped in April, according to new data.
Layoffs.fyi, which crowdsources layoff data, suggests that tech layoffs (and the number of companies laying off tech professionals) have declined steadily since a high in January 2023. Some of the tech companies that unleashed the biggest layoffs in April included Dropbox (which cut roughly 500 employees) and Lyft (more than 1,000 employees). Here’s a visualization of the long-term layoff trend:
It’s important to keep in mind that the number of tech layoffs can fluctuate wildly from month to month, especially if a tech giant like Google or Meta decides to cut thousands (or even tens of thousands) of jobs. In other words, it’s anyone’s guess whether the overall number of layoffs will continue to decline—or swing upwards again. According to a recent report from Revelio Labs (which used data from layoffs.fyi as well as Parachute List), software engineers represent 19.3 percent of all laid-off tech industry employees over the past 12 months, followed by recruiters (4.6 percent), QA testers (3.7 percent), product managers (2.8 percent), and web developers (2.3 percent).
Despite the layoffs, however, companies are still hiring. Although executives everywhere fear that a recession could impact hiring throughout the rest of 2023, 71 percent of HR professionals surveyed by CompTIA said they were hiring for growth; 52 percent were continuing to backfill hire. “Hiring continues to be driven by the pursuit of cutting-edge skills that can help organizations gain or maintain their competitive edge,” added the organization’s Workforce and Learning Trends 2023 report.
The tech unemployment rate remained steady at 2.2 percent in March, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data as analyzed by CompTIA. In-demand roles include data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity analysts and engineers, software developers and engineers, QA testers, and more. Although news of layoffs is scary, always keep in mind that organizations across multiple industries remain hungry for all kinds of tech talent.
