Job market India
Mass layoffs in the technology sector in India in 2024: where are we headed?
At the beginning of 2024, a new wave of uncertainty has hit the Indian tech industry, with thousands of tech workers losing their jobs.
Both large tech companies and startups have announced significant job cuts due to cost-cutting and restructuring measures.
After a challenging 2023, which was considered the worst year for tech layoffs, this trend continues in 2024.
We at BitKollegen/Omnics are also noticing this increasingly this year in particular, as the number of applicants to our own job advertisements is steadily increasing.
One example: While we still received around 800-1000 applications for a job advertisement for the position of “React Frontend Developer” in 2023, our last advertisements on this topic in early 2024 already had over 1600 people applying for this job advertisement.
Significant layoffs at leading tech companies
Here are a few examples (of many) of the wave of redundancies according to our research: Cisco is planning significant cutbacks as part of a restructuring. It is expected that thousands of employees could be affected. Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, is planning to lay off around 10% of its global full-time workforce. Nokia is facing a major organizational overhaul with the goal of cutting over 10,000 jobs worldwide. PayPal has announced a 9% reduction in its workforce, affecting approximately 2,500 employees. Google has announced several rounds of layoffs affecting different teams. Microsoft has laid off about 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Amazon has made significant layoffs in several departments such as Audible, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.
Causes and effects of the wave of layoffs
There are many reasons for the redundancies, including restructuring, efficiency improvements and a global economic downturn.
In particular, the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making certain jobs redundant.
However, this movement is also creating new opportunities (and therefore jobs) in AI and machine learning.
According to a report by CompTIA, there were 33,727 active job postings in the AI field in January 2024.
Excursus: Challenges for returning Indian tech workers from the USA
In the US, too, there have been an increasing number of layoffs in the tech sector, even at the so-called big tech companies, which are also increasingly being portrayed by those affected on social media, e.g. LinkedIn.
Many Indian tech software developers and other specialists who return from the USA as a result are immediately faced with a difficult job market in India.
They are often forced to take a significant pay cut and face mistrust from Indian employers who fear they will want to return to the US at the first opportunity, often earning less than a quarter of their US salary.
Losing a highly respected job in the US and returning to India without similar job prospects can lead to social stigmatization.
Many perceive the job loss as a personal failure, which adds to the pressure.
Looking ahead
The ongoing layoffs are a wake-up call for companies and governments to develop more sustainable business models.
Training and retraining programs could be crucial to prepare the affected workers for the new market requirements.
