Tech layoffs surge past 52,000 in first quarter as AI adoption drives workforce reductions

US Job-Cut Announcements in Tech Keep Rising With AI Adoption

Layoff announcements at technology companies continued to mount in March, leading other industries in overall US job-cut plans as investment in artificial intelligence catalyzes leaner staffing levels. Employers in the technology sector announced 18,720 job cuts, up more than 24% from March 2025, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That brought the industry total to more than 52,000 so far this year, the most first-quarter cuts since 2023. Overall, US-based employers announced 60,620 job cuts last month, up more than 25% from February. For all industries, AI accounted for a quarter of layoff announcements. "Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs," Andy Challenger, the company's chief revenue officer, said in a statement. "The actual replacing of roles can be seen in technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions. Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can't replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs." The figures underscore growing concerns that AI will lead to large-scale labor market disruption, especially for white-collar workers. In the tech industry, AI models promise to make coding far easier and less labor intensive. Tech companies like Meta Platforms Inc., Oracle Corp., and Jack Dorsey's Block Inc. are undertaking workforce reductions as resources get redirected to investment in AI. Still, overall layoff rates have remained low, with the labor market still in a "low-hire, low-fire" state. Total layoff announcements were down 78% in March from the same month last year. The report Thursday also showed that hiring intentions almost tripled from the previous month. Still, hiring plans so far this year are down from the same period in 2025, consistent with soft labor demand. Data out Wednesday from ADP Research showed payrolls at US companies increased by 62,000 in March after a similar increase a month earlier. While AI topped the list of reasons for layoff announcements, employers also cited closings and restructures, as well as market and economic conditions, according to Challenger.

AI pushes 2026 tech layoffs past 50K in just three months, employers reveal

US tech employment had its worst start to the year since 2023, with AI blamed for tens of thousands of brutal job cuts, according to a new report. The first three months of 2026 saw 52,050 tech layoffs -- a 40% jump from the same period last year, executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report published Thursday. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being blamed for the cuts. In March, AI led the list of reasons employers gave for tech layoffs -- accounting for 15,341 of the firings, or 25% of the total. Just a month earlier, the figure was 10%. Also last month, Meta planned sweeping layoffs -- with 20% of its workforce, or about 15,000 employees, on the chopping block, according to Reuters. The drastic cuts were reportedly intended to offset the company's massive investments in AI. In January, Amazon said it would axe 16,000 corporate employees, with the company suggesting AI will do their work, instead. That came on top of news in October that the online retailer was axing 14,000 corporate workers. Dell in the first three months of the year cut 11,000 jobs, accounting for the biggest tech bloodbath at one company while layoffs at other firms were still unfolding, according to Challenger. "Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs. The actual replacing of roles can be seen in technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions," said Challenger, Gray & Christmas chief revenue officer Andy Challenger. "Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can't replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs." Tech leaders have been sounding the alarm for months. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in January that AI would wipe out about half of all white collar jobs within one to five years. Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas recently landed in hot water after he argued on a podcast last month that people should embrace being replaced by artificial intelligence since they don't like their jobs, anyway. At Block, CEO Jack Dorsey blamed a recent round of 4,000 layoffs on the emerging technology -- warning of more to come. "We're already seeing that the intelligence tools we're creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company," he wrote on X. "And that's accelerating rapidly." The first quarter of the year saw 217,362 job cuts across all industries -- the lowest quarterly total since 2022, according to challenger. The tally was down 16% from the final quarter of 2025 and down 56% from the first quarter of 2025. Other than AI, employers citing closings, restructurings and economic conditions as the reasons for layoffs so far this year. Across all sectors, U.S.-based employers announced 60,620 job cuts in March alone, up 25% from February, according to challenger.