Telecom-IT Layoff Tracker Q1 2024: Zoom, Dell, Cisco, 8x8, More

Our latest tech and telecom industry layoff tracker shows the onslaught of tech companies announcing layoffs continued through the first quarter of 2024.

In some cases, employees learned they were getting pink slips just days after toasting the new year.

In many cases, the layoffs were in conjunction with restructuring plans. That was the case with Cisco, DocuSign, Okta and more. Others are shedding workers due to continuing macroeconomic conditions.

Tech Industry Layoff Tracker Shows Continuing Trend

Tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs in the past year.

According to the latest from Janco and Associates, the overall unemployment rate for IT professionals in February fell to 4.3%, from 5.5% in January. Also, the number of open, unfilled IT positions rose from 154,000 to 211,000. This data implies hiring IT professionals could be on the upswing, but needs to be tempered as the IT unemployment rate of 4.3% is still higher than the overall U.S. unemployment rate of 3.9%.

Janco’s initial forecast is that the IT job market will shrink by another 20,000-30,000 jobs in 2024. This is based on current U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, hiring trends monitored by Janco, budgets for IT initiatives in 234 companies that Janco monitors, and its proprietary forecasting model.

Related:Updated Telecom-IT Layoff Tracker September 2023: Cisco, Ingram Micro, Trellix, T-Mobile, More

“From our interviews, we have found that most of the hiring and job growth is SMEs,” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis. “Many of the larger firms continue to be focused on staff reductions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is slowing the growth of entry-level positions within IT, especially in customer service, telecommunications and hosting automation. CIOs and CFOs in larger firms are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible. They are focusing on eliminating ‘non-essential’ managers, staff and services. Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities. The highest demand continues to be for AI, security professionals, programmers and blockchain processing IT pros. The move to AI applications is reducing demand for many entry-level positions in IT.”

See our up-to-date layoff tracker above – including those that have happened since our last update – for the many job cuts already this year.