If you’ve faced redundancy in the last few years, you’re far from alone. The COVID-19 pandemic was a period of intense job instability for many of the world’s workers; at home in the UK, the redundancy rate rose to a record high in the first few months of the crisis.
Every industry was impacted in some way, but Big Tech, in particular, caught the global limelight after hiring en masse — responding to the public’s new reliance on technology when working from home — and subsequently laying off excess workers in huge swathes when the bubble burst.
But the world of tech extends far beyond U.S.-based giants like Amazon, Meta and Apple.
This got us thinking: from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 to 2024, which tech companies around the world have been responsible for the biggest layoff events in terms of the number of employees who lost their jobs?
Using a database that tracks layoffs in tech, BusinessFinancing.co.uk went to find out.
Key Findings
- Google’s January 2023 layoff of 12,000 employees was the biggest in tech since
- When considering the number of employees laid off, six of the biggest layoff events in tech since 2020 were made by American companies.
- Swedish company Ericsson saw the biggest layoff event of any European tech company when it laid off 8,500 employees in February 2023.
- In the UK, Getir made the biggest layoff in August 2023 when it laid off 2,500 workers.
10 Biggest African Tech Company Layoffs Since 2020
The pandemic, coupled with a more cautious economic climate, triggered a wave of layoffs across the tech sector around the world.
In Africa, businesses have faced substantial layoffs since 2020, with Nigerian eCommerce platforms like Jumia and Alerzo, together, laying off up to 1,300 employees, and a large wave of Nigerian startups laying off staff as well.
Biggest Tech Layoffs in South America:
Biggest Tech Layoffs in Europe:
Biggest Tech Layoffs in the Rest of Asia and Oceania:
Biggest Tech Layoffs in Each Country:
