Tech Layoff Wave Has Already Hit 100,000 Jobs This Year

After easing in 2024 and 2025, tech layoffs have surged again in 2026, with more than 100,000 jobs already cut worldwide by early May, according to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, which tracks publicly reported job cuts in the tech sector. As our chart shows, layoffs totaled around 81,700 in the first quarter alone, the highest quarterly figure since early 2023, before adding about 20,000 more in the first six weeks of the second quarter.

This marks a sharp reversal from 2025, when layoffs remained relatively contained at around 27,000 to 37,000 per quarter, and from 2024, when cuts steadily declined from about 57,000 in Q1 to just over 13,000 in Q4. The renewed wave has hit major tech companies, with firms such as Meta, PayPal and Cloudflare announcing thousands of job cuts in recent months as the industry continues to prioritize efficiency and investment in artificial intelligence.

Despite the recent spike, layoffs have not yet reached the levels seen at the peak of the previous wave. In early 2023, quarterly job cuts climbed to more than 160,000 in Q1 alone. Still, the current trajectory suggests the sector may be entering another period of restructuring, with 2026 already on track to rival the scale of layoffs seen in previous downturns (more than 260,000 jobs were cut in total in 2023).