PHOENIX — Microsoft announced it will lay off 10,000 workers in response to “macroeconomic conditions and changing priorities” in a security filing today.
The company is just the latest in a string of tech-centric companies announcing workforce reductions.
The list includes some heavy hitters as well as companies with a presence in Arizona.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup founder Roger Lee has been tracking tech sector layoffs on a publicly available database.
His data shows almost 2,000 companies have laid off over 286,000 workers worldwide since the pandemic began.
More than half of the layoffs occurred in companies located in the United States. In 2022 alone there were 154,000 layoffs.
So far in 2023, the numbers have exceeded 37,000.
Since 2021, more than 103,000 workers have been let go by tech companies.
The list is dominated by large, mature companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. One of the larger reported numbers of layoffs comes from Carvana, a company headquartered in Tempe that laid off over 4,000 workers in 2022.
Troy Anderson is the owner of Allied Code in Scottsdale. He told ABC15 some of what is happening in the industry is attributable to the pandemic.
“With COVID over the last several years, We’ve had a bit of pressure to keep employees,” Anderson said. “We have PPP funding; we’ve had loans and other things in place.”
Phoenix tech workers are feeling the pinch as well.
The Valley of the Sun ranks fourth in the number of layoffs, behind major tech centers in San Francisco and Seattle. New York City ranks third.
Of the companies with a presence in Arizona that announced specific numbers of employees impacted by layoffs, Carvana makes up 90%.
European antivirus giant Avast owns LifeLock in Tempe and last year announced a 25% reduction to its entire workforce.
Other companies in Arizona announcing layoffs include Edgio, Offerpad, Freshly, and Homepoint. Freshly, a meal delivery service has ceased operations entirely.
There is some silver lining for impacted workers. Anderson said that employees in the tech space are always in high demand.
“Every business needs technology, and that knowledge and capability is always needed.”
