In 2024, major tech corporations announced a massive layoff of over 100,000 workers from companies such as Tesla, Apple, Microsoft and Dell with many of its CEOs having cited restructuring costs as the main reason. Even Japanese companies like Toshiba haven’t been spared from the layoffs.

Many companies have stated artificial intelligence as the number one reason for the reason for this restructuring occurring.

With AI being at the forefront of the development, tech companies have been looking at automation and long-term investment in the chips that power AI. To be able to make this a reality, many costs have to be reinvested into different avenues.

Companies can prioritise efficiency and employ cost cutting measures by letting go of employees. However, what is the impact of this onto the economy at large? This first means that there are many highly skilled, qualified individuals that are all unemployed.

In addition, a fear of recession has been in the heads of many economists which have been a result of a stagnant US economy which fears of its economic situation spreading across the rest of the world.

Why Did The Tech Layoffs Happen?

The simple reason can be found in the boom-and-bust cycle. There was an over hiring during the pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many stay-at-home policies has resulted the uptick of tech usage. As we were reliant on technology to communicate, many companies in order to keep up with demand had to hire hundreds of workers in order to keep up.

However, after the initial demand has died, the overabundance of workers in these tech companies have resulted in layoffs due to restructuring.

I do want to note that layoffs were mainly in the positions of project management, finance, HR, accounts, marketing but not necessarily in the developer side of things. Developers  (engineers) from what we can see are still in demand as they are the bread of butter of all tech companies.

Psychological impact of the layoffs

The clear lack of empathy for employees in the process and excessive competition has led to many employees that have been let go saying “they’ve feel burnt out” or “they’ve been conned”. Many have made statements such as “employees in the eyes of these big corporations are an expendable asset.”

In addition, employees that have been let go will now need to find a new job, in an ever-competitive job market. Expect many mental health challenges to come ahead to those that have been let go in these times of turmoil.

Many of these individuals that have been laid off from big Tech have turned to social media to vent their frustrations, even to go as to record their firing on video to show the world what’s going on.

Economic Impact of Layoffs

As the 2024 election looms in, and a fear of an economic recession, at first glance the situation may seem bad. Does it though? Tech companies still remain a minority of companies in the US and it seems that the layoffs haven’t really impacted the overall job market just yet.

Tech companies although profits have seen a slight decrease, still remain of the most profitable companies around the world. Many of the tech workers that have been laid off, remain highly skilled and many have found replacement work after a few months of job search.

Top Companies That Fired Employees from 2023 To 2024

• Meta – 21,000 employees let go
• Amazon – 27,000 employees let go
• Google – 12,000 employees let go
• Microsoft – 11,000 employees let go
• Salesforce – 10,000 employees let go
• Uber – 7,700 employees let go
• Dell – 6,000 employees let go
• Apple – 1,400 employees let go
• Expedia – 1,500 employees let go

All in all, we live in an ever-changing world where trends such as AI could disrupt a whole industry, and the world.

Being ready and up-to-date with these trends are important so we can shield ourselves from rapid market changes such as these. We’re after all in what Klaus Schwab call the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Changes are expected to come and in waves.

How To Bullet Proof Your Finances in Case of Market Change

Layoffs can happen to anyone, here are some ways you can bullet proof yourself in the case of big market changes.

1 – Have a backup plan, and diversified skillset

Having a diversified skillset is always a good thing in helping you recession-proof yourself. In case your skillset becomes redundant in one market, you can always use it in another or jump to another skillset.

2 – Rely on your local network

Having a strong network with people that know you and trust you is crucial in times of crisis, as if you’re let go of a job then it’ll be your network that’s first to give you the next job in line.

3 – Having an emergency fund in place

Having an emergency fund in places protects your finance just in case you’ll be out of work for a few months is a smart thing to do.

4 – Having multiple streams of income

Having multiple streams of income in the form of investments and businesses mean that you have something fall back on for finances.

5 – Never rely on your job too much

This is the real world, anything can happen anytime. It is very dangerous to rely on one stream to give you all of your income. At one moment you can be doing well, and the next moment you can be fired, therefor you don’t want to put an overattachment into the job you have.

6 – Reducing your expenses

Saving cash, reducing expenses these are standard financial advice to help you in the case of a rainy day.

7 – Keeping a strong work ethic

Just because you’re in a secure position in a company, does not mean that you’ll be in a secure position forever. Tomorrow, something could happen that could wipe you out. However, even if your position changes what you still have is your experience and more importantly your work ethic to shield you against tough times.

8 – Changing things up

If you’re always doing the same thing, expect to get the same result. But in order to get to the next level, you have to make changes into your action or you’ll remain stagnant. Perhaps you’ve gotten complacent, lazy. Perhaps you’re not learning new technologies, new strategies. We want to change things up.

If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to check out my free e-book: “Cash-Emails” in which you will have the best marketing templates, I learnt through my millionaire mentors, that will allow you write emails that can generate you a couple extra thousand dollars in sales. The strategies I will be sharing with you in this book are specifically made for email marketing but the templates can be applied onto virtually any platform. Download it through the link below.