A flurry of layoffs at the beginning of 2023 came amid panic that the U.S. economy was in for a painful downturn. But then an unexpected thing happened: the prominent layoffs petered out.
A surge of economic activity, particularly in the second half of the year, helped stabilize the labor market and protect millions of American jobs. There were still plenty of job cuts in certain pockets of the economy, but many economists say the situation could have been much worse.
“We’ve seen that a lot of companies have been choosing to pull back on hiring," rather than conduct layoffs, said Cory Stahle, an economist at job searching site Indeed.
Some of the most prominent cuts occurred in late 2022 and the first months of this year in the tech and media sectors: Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, HP, and the parent companies of Google and Facebook all cut several thousand workers.
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Despite the cuts, the U.S. job market has remained remarkably strong throughout the year, most recently adding 199,000 jobs in November, slower but solid growth that lowered the unemployment rate to 3.7 percent. In further signs of the economy’s resilience, inflation has dropped to 3.1 percent, from 2022′s peak of 9.1, and the economy grew at a blockbuster pace last quarter.
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Because of high interest rates and the cost of capital, many companies are still remaining cautious on spending. But as 2024 begins, layoffs have become more measured, said Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at the employment website Glassdoor.
“Layoffs continue to trickle in, but the tone of them has changed,” he said. “The motivation was general economic fear early in the year. Now they’re certainly more surgical.”
From Google to Goldman Sachs, here’s a look back at notable layoffs since late 2022.
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Technology
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Accenture
The consulting firm Accenture in late March said it planned to cut 2.5 percent of its workforce, roughly 19,000 jobs, after lowering its annual revenue and profit projections. The company had expected revenue growth of between 8 and 11 percent, but it revised that forecast down to between 8 and 10 percent. The company wrote in a securities filing that it expects more than half of the layoffs to occur among employees in “nonbillable corporate functions.”
Alphabet
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is cutting about 12,000 jobs, CEO Sundar Pichai said in January. He said that the job cuts — estimated to be 6 percent of the workforce — will occur across the company and that the decision came after a “rigorous review.” Alphabet nodded to the tremendous growth the company experienced over the past two years, but demand has waned with the return to in-person life and with interest rate increases, which have made borrowing more expensive. Pichai said that the company had hired to meet the prior surge but that the economic reality the company faces now is far different.
Amazon
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced in November 2022 plans to slash roughly 10,000 corporate jobs — many from its human resources, devices and retail divisions — and raised that total to 18,000 in January. In March, Amazon said it planned to lay off an additional 9,000 workers, citing an “uncertain economy.” (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, and the newspaper’s interim CEO, Patty Stonesifer, sits on Amazon’s board.)
Apple
Bloomberg reported in April that Apple planned to lay off a small number employees from its retail teams, which are responsible for the construction and upkeep of the company’s global retail stores, citing sources familiar with the plans. At the time, Apple had been the only tech giant to not announce major cuts to its workforce. Still, it is pulling back in some areas, including by trimming contractors such as engineers, recruiters and security guards, according to Bloomberg.
Coinbase
In January, the cryptocurrency exchange announced that it was eliminating 950 jobs in an effort to reduce operating expenses. In a blog post, chief executive Brian Armstrong wrote that the cuts come as the industry “trended downward along with the broader macroeconomy” in 2022.
Dell
In February, the PC maker is shedding about 5 percent of its workforce, or around 6,650 positions,. Plunging demand for personal computers has forced the company to enact a broader cost-cutting program that also includes a hiring freeze and a pullback on travel. “What we know is market conditions continue to erode with an uncertain future,” Dell Vice Chairman Jeff Clarke told employees, according to a Feb. 6 SEC filing.
DocuSign
In February, the e-signature company announced plans to lay off about 10 percent of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring. An earlier round of layoffs affected about 9 percent of the company, according to CNBC, which reported on Feb. 16 that the latest cuts will bring DocuSign’s head count to around 700.
DoorDash
Swollen by pandemic hiring, the food delivery company in November 2022 shed 1,250 corporate jobs, about 6 percent of its workforce. Chief executive Tony Xu said in a note to employees that company leaders were “not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth,” as the company’s revenue growth was eclipsed by operating expenses.
Dropbox
The cloud storage and software firm said April 27 that it would lay off 500 employees, about 16 percent of the company. Chief executive Drew Houston wrote in a staff memo that Dropbox’s growth had slowed as a result of the larger economic downturn even though the company remains profitable. He also wrote that the company will be increasing its investment in artificial intelligence and needs to reorganize its staffing to prioritize those skills.
Ericsson
In February, CNN reported that the telecommunications giant plans to cut a total of 8,500 positions, or 8 percent of its workforce, by the end of 2023. The company experienced lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings as equipment sales slowed in the United States, according to Reuters.
Etsy
The online market platform announced Dec. 13, that it was cutting 225 employees, or 11 percent of its staff. Josh Silverman, Etsy’s chief executive, blamed a “very challenging macro and competitive environment,” as well as lagging sales and growing employee expenses. “This is ultimately not a sustainable trajectory and we must change it,” he said in a blog post.
Grubhub
In June, the food delivery platform said it would lay off approximately 400 employees, or about 15 percent of its workforce, according to a message sent to company workers. The company’s operating costs have risen faster than revenue, CEO Howard Migdal wrote in his message.
HP
The computer giant said in November 2022 that it would trim 4,000 to 6,000 workers by the end of 2025 in an effort to reduce costs. The announcement came after HP reported an 11.2 percent drop in fourth-quarter revenue compared with the same period in 2021; full-year sales dipped 0.8 percent.
IBM
The technology company announced plans in January to cut around 3,900 positions, or about 1.5 percent of its global workforce. IBM said the cuts were related to earlier divestitures of its Kyndryl and Watson Health businesses, although those moves took place long before the job cuts were announced in late January.
Indeed
The job-searching company announced in March that it would lay off 2,200 people, or 15 percent of its staff. In a March 22 memo to staff, chief executive Chris Hyams cited a decline in U.S. job openings, which he predicted would fall even further in the next few years. “With future job openings at or below pre-pandemic levels, our organization is simply too big for what lies ahead,” added Hyams, who said he’d take a 25 percent cut in base pay.
Kraken
The cryptocurrency exchange said in a November 2022 blog post that it would slash 30 percent of its payroll, or 1,100 workers, to “adapt to current market conditions.” The industry experienced a dramatic downturn in 2022, erasing billions of dollars of investments.
The Microsoft-owned networking platform said Oct. 16 that it would lay off 668 employees as part of an ongoing reorganization, according to a company announcement. In May, the company laid off 716 employees as part of a phaseout of the company’s China-based local jobs app, InCareer, according to a public letter from chief executive Ryan Roslansky.
Lyft
The ride-share giant announced April 27 that it would lay off more than a quarter of its workforce, or 1,072 employees, according to a regulatory filing. It will also eliminate 250 vacant positions. The separations will cost Lyft as much as $47 million in severance payments, the company said.
Meta
In November 2022, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce, in an effort to rein in expenses and focus on transforming its advertising business. The cuts underscored a tumultuous new period in Silicon Valley, whose tech giants have been long regarded as recession-proof. Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder, has said declines in online shopping and advertising competition led to a decline in revenue. His company has also bet big on a push to create a virtual world often called the metaverse. In March, Zuckerberg announced that an additional 10,000 workers would be cut.
Microsoft
In January, Microsoft said it planned to lay off 10,000 employees, the company said it was part of a restructuring plan to focus on areas of growth and brace the company for an economic downturn.
PayPal
In January, online payment company PayPal said it will lay off 2,000 employees, or about 7 percent of its global workforce. In a memo to staff published to the company’s website, chief executive Dan Schulman said PayPal had made significant progress in addressing “the challenging macroeconomic environment” but added that the company has “more work to do,” as it restructures and focuses on core priorities.
Roku
In March, the streaming media device company said it planned to cut about 6 percent of its workforce, or about 200 employees, according to a March 29 filing. The company said the layoffs are part of a restructuring plan designed to reduce operating expenses and prioritize projects that may offer a “higher return on investment.” The company also shed 200 employees in November 2022, citing the “current economic conditions in our industry.”
Salesforce
The cloud-computing giant — whose products include the popular workplace chat system Slack, as well as tools for sales, marketing and customer service — announced in January cost-cutting plans that include shedding 10 percent of its workforce. Salesforce has more than 79,000 employees, meaning the layoffs affected nearly 8,000 people. Co-chief executive Marc Benioff said the company hired too many people when its sales surged during the pandemic. In September, Benioff told Bloomberg the company planned to hire about 3,300
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SAP
According to a January earnings report, the European software giant announced plans to eliminate 2,800 employees, or 2.5 percent of its workforce, citing a “targeted restructuring” and plans to “strengthen its core business and improve overall process efficiency.”
Shopify
Shopify said it would cut about 20 percent of its staff in May.
Spotify
On Dec. 4, the music streaming company announced plans to lay off 17 percent of its staff — its third round of layoffs this year — citing slower economic growth and more expensive capital. Chief executive Daniel Ek said there is a need to ensure the company is “right-sized for the challenges ahead.”
This came after Spotify announced cuts in June and January. First that it would slash 6 percent of its workforce, citing the “need to become more efficient” and over-hiring during the pandemic. “I take full accountability for the moves that got us here today,” Ek wrote in a blog post, which also discussed reorganization plans. And later, an additional 200 jobs would be cut as it makes changes to its podcast strategy.
Stripe
Online payment company Stripe said in November 2022 that it would cut 14 percent of its workforce. In a memo to staff in November, the company said the 1,100 job cuts will return Stripe’s head count to almost what it was in February 2022.
T-Mobile
The wireless service giant announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers, or just under 7 percent of its U.S. workforce, according to letter sent to employees Aug. 24. The cuts come amid a larger cost-saving plan to improve the company’s efficiency as it faces heightened competition, chief executive Mike Sievert said in the message. Earlier this year, T-Mobile agreed to acquire Mint Mobile, the cell carrier backed by actor Ryan Reynolds, for $1.35 billion.
Twilio
The San Francisco-based communications technology firm announced on Feb. 13 that it would be laying off 17 percent of its workforce. That’s 1,500 jobs based on Twilio’s September 2022 head count of roughly 9,000 people, according to an SEC filing. Executives said the cuts were part of a broader restructuring plan designed to shift the company toward greater profitability.
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Unity Software
In May, Unity, which makes a software platform widely used in mobile and virtual reality games, said it planned to lay off 600 people, according to a SEC filing. The layoffs cover about 8 percent of the company’s workforce.
Vimeo
Video-streaming company Vimeo said in early January that it would lay off about 11 percent of its staff, or about 140 people, “due to the uncertain economic environment.”
X
Soon after Elon Musk acquired the San Francisco-based social media company formerly known as Twitter in October 2022, he fired much of the company’s top brass and laid off roughly half of its 7,500 workers. Hundreds more workers departed the next month, after refusing to sign a pledge to work longer hours, The Washington Post reported. It laid off another 200 people on Feb. 25, according to the New York Times.
Zoom
The videoconference company said in February that it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce, or 1,300 workers — and its chief executive, Eric Yuan, said he’d take a 98 percent pay cut. Yuan said the company had not assessed whether it was growing sustainably as its product became ubiquitous during pandemic lockdowns and business skyrocketed. Now that much of the world has returned to in-person life, some consumers have “Zoom fatigue” — and the company’s shares have plummeted.
Media
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BuzzFeed
In a staff memo on April 20, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the company will lay off 15 percent of the company and begin shuttering BuzzFeed News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning online publication that was started in 2011 as an adjunct to the primary BuzzFeed site, which specializes in listicles about celebrities and popular culture.
Disney
The entertainment behemoth announced in February that it planned to cut around 7,000 jobs in a sweeping effort to save $5.5 billion. The reductions came only months after Bob Iger, who led Disney through its golden age, returned to the company, promising big changes. In announcing the cuts, Iger said Disney is “committed to running our businesses more efficiently, especially in a challenging economic environment.”
The Los Angeles Times
On June 7, the Los Angeles Times announced it would shed 74 positions, or 13 percent of its newsroom staff. In a note to employees, Executive Editor Kevin Merida said the decision was “made more urgent by the economic climate and the unique challenges of our industry.”
News Corp
In February, Reuters reported Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp would be reducing its workforce by 5 percent, or about 1,250 jobs. The media giant that publishes the Wall Street Journal posted a 10.6 percent decline in advertising revenue, part of an industry-wide slump accompanying higher interest rates. It also incurred $6 million in one-time costs because of a scrapped merger with Fox Corp.
NPR
Facing a $30 million shortfall, the radio broadcaster announced in February that it planned to lay off about 10 percent of its staff, or roughly 100 people. In a memo to staff, CEO John Lansing said the broadcasting company was experiencing a decline in advertising revenue, especially in podcasting. He also noted the tough environment for the media industry in general.
Vox Media
Vox Media, the company behind New York Magazine, the Verge and Vox, is cutting about 7 percent of its staff, the company said on Jan. 20. Chief executive Jim Bankoff said in a note to staff that cuts would affect multiple teams throughout the company, affecting about 130 people.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post laid off 20 of its 2,500 employees in January. The move follows action taken in 2022 to shutter The Post’s Sunday magazine and lay off 11 newsroom employees.
Yahoo
The media and technology company said in February that it planned to lay off 20 percent of its workforce as it embarked on a restructuring plan that would impact its advertising unit. Chief executive Jim Lanzone told Axios that the cuts were strategic and not financial. In 2021, the private-equity firm Apollo Global Management acquired Yahoo and AOL in a $5 billion deal with Verizon.
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Goldman Sachs
The investment bank started shedding as many as 3,200 jobs in early January following a slump in dealmaking in 2022. As with other Wall Street banks, Goldman’s employees expected a drop in annual bonuses, according to the New York Times, and getting no bonus at all can be taken as a sign to leave.
The investment bank’s cuts will go well beyond a ritual year-end culling of underperformers, according to multiple news outlets. Goldman’s head count would still be higher than it was going into the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported, noting it was roughly 49,000 compared with 38,000 in 2019.
Morgan Stanley
In December 2022, the investment bank trimmed about 1,600 workers, or 2 percent of its workforce, CNBC reported. The cuts appeared to be part of a tradition among Morgan Stanley and its peers to cut a percentage of low performers at year’s end — a practice that had been suspended during the pandemic. But the following May, the bank started discussions about a new round of layoffs totaling some 3,000 workers, according to multiple news outlets including Bloomberg News.
The bank had seen its head count grow roughly 34 percent since early 2020, partly as a result of two acquisitions. By the end of 2022, inflation had cut into the bank’s dealmaking, according to Reuters, putting pressure on investment banks that earned record profits a year earlier from consulting on mergers, acquisitions and IPOs.
Manufacturing, retail and other industries
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3M
3M said in January it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs after the company reported rapid declines in its consumer-facing markets, including slowing demand for disposable respirators and covid-related disruptions in China. The company said the cuts are part of a strategy to address slower-than-expected growth, as it adjusts its manufacturing output. The layoffs will affect about 3 percent of 3M’s workforce.
“We expect macroeconomic challenges to persist in 2023,” chief executive Mike Roman said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev
The parent company of Bud Light announced July 27 that it would shed 350 corporate positions, or less than 2 percent of its U.S. workforce, as a boycott continues to weigh on its bottom line. Bud Light had long reigned as the country’s most popular beer, but sales have sagged since March when a marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney upset some conservatives and led to a boycott. Anheuser-Busch InBev distanced itself from the ads amid the uproar, leading some liberals to eschew the brew, too.
Boeing
In February, a Boeing spokesman confirmed that the Arlington, Va.-based aerospace giant said it plans to shed roughly 2,000 non-unionized jobs, primarily in the company’s human resources and finance divisions. The spokesman emphasized that the company plans to hire about 10,000 people throughout 2023, following 15,000 hires the year before.
“We expect lower staffing within some corporate support functions so that we can focus our resources in engineering and manufacturing and directly supporting our products, services and technology development efforts,” the spokesman said.
CVS Health
The pharmacy, insurance provider and retailer said in August it would cut 5,000 corporate jobs, a spokesperson told The Post, as part of a larger cost savings plan. The company does not expect any impacts to its pharmacy operations, 1,100 walk-in clinics or 9,000 retail locations. Earlier this year, it completed acquisitions of Oak Street Health, which operates primary-care clinics for elderly patients, and Signify Health, a home-heath-care provider.
Deloitte
The Financial Times reported on April 21 that Deloitte plans to cut around 1,200 jobs as part of a broader restructuring, citing internal employee communications.
Dow
The chemical company announced in late January that it planned to reduce its workforce by 2,000, or about 5.5 percent, as it seeks to save $1 billion in 2023. The plans also include closing down certain company assets and “aligning spending levels to the macroeconomic environment.”
Jim Fitterling, Dow’s chairman and chief executive, said those actions would allow the company to navigate “macro uncertainties and challenging energy markets, particularly in Europe.”
Ford
Redirecting its focus on electric vehicles and their batteries, Ford in August let go about 3,000 white-collar contract employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. It represented a 1 percent reduction in Ford’s 183,000-person workforce and mainly affected workers in the United States, Canada and India, according to the Journal. On Feb. 14, the automaker announced plans to cut 3,800 jobs in Europe, while expanding battery production operations in Michigan as part of a broader transition toward electric vehicles. And in late June, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ford cut another 1,000 white-collar employees in the United States and Canada as part of a broader cost-cutting strategy.
Gap
The parent company of Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta announced April 27 that it would eliminate 1,800 leadership roles at its headquarters and stores as part of a plan for “simplifying and optimizing our operating model.” The move will save the company $300 million annually, interim chief executive Bob Martin said in a statement.
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Hasbro
The toy and entertainment giant announced on Jan. 26 that it would eliminate 15 percent of its global workforce amid broader organizational changes designed to yield $250 million to $300 million in savings by the end of 2025. Hasbro’s consumer products division “underperformed in the fourth quarter against the backdrop of a challenging holiday consumer environment,” CEO Chris co*cks said in a news release.
H&M
The world’s second-largest fashion retailer, based in Sweden, said in November 2022 that it would cut 1,500 positions, about 1 percent of its workforce. The move was part of a $177 million effort to cut costs amid surging inflation in Europe tied to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. Compounding the retailer’s woes were disappointing third-quarter results as it struggled to keep up with Inditex, the owner of Zara.
Novavax
The vaccine manufacturer said in May that it planned to lay off about 25 percent of its global workforce, while also consolidating facilities and infrastructure, the company announced as part of its quarterly earnings report. That would translate to just under 500 jobs based on the company’s head count on Feb. 21, the most recent figure available in regulatory filings.
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Tyson Foods
The major food producer said on April 26 that it will eliminate roughly 10 percent of its corporate workforce and 15 percent of senior leadership roles. The cuts are likely to amount to hundreds of workers; the company had 6,000 U.S. corporate employees as of Oct. 1, 2022 Reuters reported, and 118,000 in other facilities nationwide, including meatpacking plants. Tyson has already shed some corporate jobs. In October, it centralized its corporate workforce at its headquarters in Arkansas, leading some workers to leave the company.
