Tech Layoffs Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: David Park | Last updated: October 29, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
U.S. technology companies announced 165,925 job cuts from January through September 2026, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Axis Intelligence Research finds that total sits 2,470 cuts below the sector’s all-time annual record of 168,395, set in 2001. Every month of 2026 so far has cut more than that gap.
Quick Answer
Tech employers announced 165,925 U.S. job cuts in the first nine months of 2026, up 54% from the same period of 2025, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Axis Intelligence Research finds 2026 has already passed 2025’s full-year total and needs 2,470 more cuts to break the 2001 record. Our Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR) stands at 7.42 cuts per announced hire.
Key Findings
- Axis Intelligence Research finds U.S. tech companies announced 165,925 job cuts from January to September 2026, 98.5% of the sector’s all-time annual record of 168,395 set in 2001, per Challenger data.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds the Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR) was 7.42 for January–September 2026, meaning 7.42 announced tech job cuts for every announced tech hire, down from 15.26 a year earlier.
- Government data confirms the trend: information-sector layoffs and discharges totaled 392,000 from January to August 2026, the highest for that period since JOLTS began except 2020, per the BLS.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds seven Big Tech filers ended their latest reported periods with 4,185 fewer employees than a year earlier; excluding Amazon, the six others shed 53,185 jobs.
- Axis Intelligence Research estimates 2026 will close between 184,234 and 212,492 announced tech job cuts, a new record in every scenario, and sets a 2027 base case of about 162,290.
How Many Tech Layoffs Have There Been in 2026?
U.S. technology companies announced 165,925 job cuts from January 1 to September 30, 2026, up 54% from 107,878 in the same period of 2025, according to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas September 2026 report.
That works out to about 608 announced tech cuts per day, an Axis Intelligence Research calculation (165,925 ÷ 273 days).
Technology accounted for 29% of all U.S. announced job cuts in 2026 through September, more than any other industry, per Challenger. Across every industry, employers announced 573,195 cuts year to date, down 39% from 946,426 a year earlier. Most of that decline is government. Excluding government, all-industry cuts fell from 646,671 to 550,185.
So tech is moving against the wider labor market. National layoff announcements are falling. Tech’s are rising.
A definition first, because every figure on this page depends on it. Announced job cuts are planned reductions that employers disclose publicly or that Challenger, Gray & Christmas confirms; the firm classifies each by industry and stated reason. An announced cut is not the same as a person filing for unemployment. Some cuts happen over months; some are offset by internal transfers.
Tech layoffs 2026 by quarter
| Quarter | Tech announced job cuts | Same quarter 2025 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 52,050 | 37,097 | Challenger, March 2026 report |
| Q2 2026 | 87,106 | — | Challenger monthly reports, Axis sum |
| Q3 2026 | 26,769 | — | Challenger monthly reports, Axis sum |
| Jan–Sep 2026 | 165,925 | 107,878 | Challenger, September 2026 report |
David Park’s read: If you work in tech and you’ve been refreshing headlines late at night, here is the number to hold onto alongside the 165,925: CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data put the tech occupation unemployment rate at 3.3% in September 2026, below the 4.2% national rate. Large announced cuts and a lower-than-average unemployment rate can both be true, because cuts land unevenly — on recruiters, middle managers, and legacy hardware teams more than on people who already carry the skills open requisitions ask for. The cut count tells you how much churn there is. The unemployment rate tells you how fast people are being reabsorbed. Right now the second number is still holding.
Is 2026 the Worst Year for Tech Layoffs on Record?
Not yet — but it is 2,470 cuts away. The technology industry’s all-time annual record in Challenger data is 168,395 announced cuts in 2001, during the dot-com collapse, per Challenger’s December 2023 report. The 2023 total, 168,032, came within 363 cuts of it.
Axis Intelligence Research finds 2026’s nine-month total already sits at 98.5% of that record (165,925 ÷ 168,395), and it has already exceeded 2025’s full-year total of 154,445 by 11,480 cuts (7.4%).
The record looks close to certain. The lowest single month of 2026 was August, at 6,103 announced tech cuts. That quietest month alone was 2.47 times the remaining gap.
Tech layoffs by year: 2001 record vs. 2022–2026
| Year | Tech announced job cuts | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 (record) | 168,395 | Challenger, December 2023 |
| 2022 | 97,171 | Challenger, December 2023 |
| 2023 | 168,032 | Challenger, December 2023 |
| 2024 | 133,988 | Challenger, December 2025 |
| 2025 | 154,445 | Challenger, December 2025 |
| 2026 (Jan–Sep) | 165,925 | Challenger, September 2026 |
Some published tallies describe 2023 as a 260,000-plus record year. Those figures come from crowd-sourced trackers that count global layoffs, including non-U.S. staff and startups, under a different method. Challenger’s count is U.S.-only and uses one consistent method across decades, which is why Axis Intelligence Research uses it as the series of record for year-over-year comparisons.
Tech Layoffs by Month in 2026
May 2026 was the peak month, with 38,242 announced tech cuts — the highest monthly tech total since August 2024’s 39,563, per Challenger’s May report. The pace then slowed sharply through the summer; August’s 6,103 was the lowest monthly tech total of 2026, per Challenger’s August report.
| Month (2026) | Tech announced cuts | Tech cuts year to date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22,291 | 22,291 | Challenger, January |
| February | 11,039 | 33,330 | Challenger, March PDF |
| March | 18,720 | 52,050 | Challenger, March PDF |
| April | 33,361 | 85,411 | Challenger, April PDF |
| May | 38,242 | 123,653 | Challenger, May |
| June | 15,503 | 139,156 | Challenger, June |
| July | 9,867 | 149,023 | Challenger, July |
| August | 6,103 | 155,126 | Challenger, August |
| September | 10,799 | 165,925 | Challenger, September |
January’s 22,291 was driven largely by Amazon’s 16,000-person reduction. Challenger said that cut “appears to be due more to over hiring and reducing layers” than to AI. March’s total was led by Dell, per Challenger’s March report.
Which months drove the 2026 total?
Two months — April and May — produced 71,603 cuts, 43% of the nine-month total (Axis calculation). The second quarter alone, at 87,106, was larger than the first and third quarters combined (78,819). That shape matters for 2027: the spring of 2026 was a budget-reset quarter, when companies set full-year spending against AI infrastructure commitments, not a slow bleed.
David Park’s read: Q3’s 26,769 cuts is the smallest quarter of the year, and that is the most useful fact on this page for anyone sitting on an offer or weighing a move. Layoff waves in this sector cluster around budget cycles and earnings calls. The calm between them is when requisitions reopen. “Companies are in a wait-and-see period right now,” Challenger wrote in its September report — wait-and-see is not the same as cut-and-run.
How Many Tech Jobs Are Cut for Every Tech Hire? The Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR)
The Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR) is an Axis Intelligence Research metric: announced U.S. technology job cuts divided by announced U.S. technology hiring plans for the same period, both from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. A TCHR above 1 means employers are announcing more cuts than hires; below 1, more hires than cuts. Because both inputs come from the same firm, the same industry classification, and the same announcement-based method, the ratio compares like with like.
Formula: TCHR = tech announced job cuts ÷ tech announced hiring plans (same period).
| Period | Tech cuts | Tech hiring plans | TCHR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Sep 2026 | 165,925 | 22,361 | 7.42 | Challenger, September 2026 |
| Jan–Sep 2025 | 107,878 | 7,070 | 15.26 | Challenger, September 2026 |
| Full year 2025 | 154,445 | 258,599 | 0.60 | Challenger, December 2025 |
| Full year 2024 | 133,988 | 16,207 | 8.27 | Challenger, December 2025 |
Axis Intelligence Research finds the January–September 2026 TCHR of 7.42 is roughly half the 15.26 reading for the same months of 2025. Cuts rose 54%, but announced tech hiring plans rose faster — up 216%, from 7,070 to 22,361.
The full-year 2025 reading of 0.60 is the outlier, and it is instructive. Tech hiring plans for all of 2025 totaled 258,599, which means about 251,529 of them were announced in the fourth quarter alone (Axis calculation: 258,599 − 7,070). Large year-end hiring announcements, often tied to data-center construction and AI programs, can swing the ratio below 1 in a single quarter. That is why the TCHR is most informative read on matching periods — nine months against nine months — rather than mid-year against full-year.
David Park’s read: The TCHR does not tell you whether your job is safe. It tells you which way the requisition pipeline is tilting relative to the cut pipeline. A ratio that halves while cuts rise means hiring announcements are recovering faster than layoffs are growing. For a candidate, that is a narrow but real opening: companies cutting one team are often posting for another, and the people who move fastest between the two are the ones who track where the posted roles actually are.
Which Big Tech Companies Actually Shrank Their Headcount in 2026?
Layoff announcements measure exits. Filed headcount measures what is left after hiring. The Axis Big Tech Headcount Snapshot compares each company’s most recent filed employee count with the count it filed one year earlier, using SEC filings only.
| Company | Latest filed headcount | Year-earlier headcount | Change | Period end (latest) | Source (company-reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 1,595,000 | 1,546,000 | +49,000 (+3.2%) | Jun 30, 2026 | Q2 2026 release |
| Alphabet | 204,757 | 190,167 | +14,590 (+7.7%) | Sep 30, 2026 | Q3 2026 release |
| Microsoft | ~223,000 | 228,000 | −5,000 (−2.2%) | Jun 30, 2026 | FY2026 10-K |
| Meta | 66,775 | 78,450 | −11,675 (−14.9%) | Sep 30, 2026 | Q3 2026 release |
| Oracle | ~141,000 | ~162,000 | −21,000 (−13.0%) | May 31, 2026 | FY2026 10-K |
| Intel | 82,300 | 101,400 | −19,100 (−18.8%) | Jun 27, 2026 | Q2 2026 release |
| Dell | ~97,000 | ~108,000 | −11,000 (−10.2%) | Jan 30, 2026 | FY2026 10-K |
| Seven-company net | −4,185 | Axis calculation | |||
| Six ex-Amazon net | −53,185 | Axis calculation |
Five of the seven companies filed smaller workforces than a year earlier. Intel’s 18.8% drop is the deepest; about 3,000 of it reflects Altera’s deconsolidation rather than layoffs, per Intel’s release, and Intel’s figure includes roughly 4,700 Mobileye employees. Meta’s headcount fell 14.9% to 66,775, after a reduction of about 8,000 roles in May 2026, per its filings — while the same company spent $34.91 billion on capital expenditures in Q3 2026 alone and guided to $135–145 billion for the year.
Oracle’s FY2026 10-K is the first among these filers to put AI-driven workforce reduction in a risk factor: AI deployment “have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce,” Oracle wrote. Oracle’s filed headcount fell by about 21,000, from about 162,000 to about 141,000. That is a net figure — layoffs minus hires — so Oracle’s gross layoff count is not disclosed in the filing.
Alphabet is the counter-example, filing 14,590 more employees than a year earlier. Amazon announced 16,000 cuts in January and still grew headcount by 49,000.
The pattern is the finding. Axis Intelligence Research finds that, outside Amazon, these six tech filers employ 53,185 fewer people than a year ago, while several of them are spending at record levels on AI infrastructure. Capital is moving from payroll to compute. For the spending side of that trade, see the Axis AI Capex Tracker.
What Does Government Data Show About Tech Layoffs?
Federal data confirms the direction of the announcement data, with a lag. Two BLS series matter most.
JOLTS: information-sector layoffs and discharges
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) counts actual layoffs and discharges reported by employers, not announcements. In the information sector (NAICS 51, which includes software publishing, telecom, data processing, and internet publishing), layoffs and discharges totaled 392,000 from January through August 2026, up 35% from 290,000 in the same months of 2025, per BLS JOLTS data via FRED (not seasonally adjusted).
Axis Intelligence Research finds that is the highest January–August total since the series began in December 2000, with the sole exception of 2020 (549,000). It is above both dot-com years, 2001 (370,000) and 2002 (379,000).
| Jan–Aug total | Information-sector layoffs & discharges (thousands) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 370 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2002 | 379 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2020 | 549 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2023 | 306 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2024 | 263 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2025 | 290 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
| 2026 | 392 | BLS JOLTS via FRED |
Payroll employment: information sector and computer systems design
Information-sector employment was 2,739,000 in September 2026, down 120,000 (−4.2%) from a year earlier and 376,000 (−12.1%) below its November 2022 peak of 3,115,000, per BLS data via FRED. It is the lowest level since December 2020.
Computer systems design and related services — the IT services and consulting industry — employed 2,355,400 in September 2026, down 32,200 (−1.3%) year over year and 128,100 (−5.2%) below its March 2023 peak, per BLS data via FRED. That is the lowest since September 2021.
David Park’s read: JOLTS is the number I trust most for one reason: employers report it whether or not they issued a press release. Announcements can be timed for earnings calls. JOLTS layoffs cannot. When a survey that has nothing to do with press coverage shows information-sector layoffs above both 2001 and 2002, the “it’s just headlines” argument no longer holds. But the payroll decline — 4.2% in a year — is smaller than the layoff count would suggest on its own, because the same employers are still hiring into other roles.
Are Tech Companies Hiring Again in 2026?
Yes, and the evidence is in postings, not in headcount. Three independent signals point the same way.
CompTIA’s analysis of Lightcast data counted 625,633 active tech job postings in September 2026, the highest in more than three years and up 22.4% year over year, per CompTIA’s October 2, 2026 release. New postings totaled 272,040 (+16%), including 47,598 new openings for software developers. Postings requesting AI skills reached 349,821.
Indeed’s software development postings index stood at 80.79 on October 23, 2026 (February 1, 2020 = 100), up 23.8% from 65.27 a year earlier and 31.2% above its March 2025 low of 61.58, per Indeed Hiring Lab data via FRED. That is the highest reading since August 2023. It remains about 19% below its pre-pandemic baseline.
Challenger’s announced tech hiring plans rose 216% year over year through September, to 22,361.
The tension in that data is the most important thing on this page. CompTIA also reported that tech sector employment fell by 10,350 in September and tech occupation employment fell by 6,000. Postings are rising while payrolls fall. Companies are posting for different roles than the ones they are cutting.
David Park’s read: Rising postings alongside falling payrolls is the signature of a reskilling market, not a collapse. More than half of active tech postings — 349,821 of 625,633 — ask for AI skills, per CompTIA, while the cuts Challenger describes skew toward removed management layers and over-hiring corrections. If you were cut from the second group, the honest message is that the 625,633 open postings are real but not evenly distributed. Your next move depends less on how many jobs exist than on how close your last role sits to the skills those postings list. Axis tracks that demand shift on the AI Job Market Tracker.
How Many Tech Layoffs Are Caused by AI?
Artificial intelligence was cited for 120,136 announced job cuts across all U.S. industries from January to September 2026, about 21% of all announced cuts, making it the top stated reason year to date, per Challenger’s September 2026 report. That already exceeds the 54,836 AI-attributed cuts for all of 2025 by more than double.
AI-cited cuts peaked in May 2026 at 38,579, or 40% of that month’s announcements. They have cooled since: AI ranked fourth in August (3,462) and fifth in September (3,961), ending a five-month run, begun in March, as the leading monthly reason, per Challenger’s August and September reports. Challenger’s July report summarized the picture: “while AI is shifting the labor market, it is not dismantling it.”
Two scope points keep this number honest. Challenger’s AI figure covers all industries, not tech alone. And it counts announced cuts where employers named AI — a different denominator from all U.S. layoffs. Measured against every layoff in the economy, AI-attributed cuts are a small share; Axis covers that comparison on AI Job Displacement Statistics, and company-by-company attribution lives on the AI Layoff Tracker.
Challenger’s April report captured why the label matters less than the budget line: “Regardless of whether individual jobs are being replaced by AI, the money for those roles is.”
Where Are Tech Layoffs Concentrated?
Challenger publishes state totals for all industries, not tech alone, but the two biggest tech states diverge sharply. Washington, home to Amazon and Microsoft, recorded 52,313 announced cuts across all industries through September 2026, up 39% from 37,550; September’s Washington total included 5,396 orchard and food-processing cuts unrelated to tech. California recorded 114,818, down 21% from 144,528, per Challenger’s September report.
| State | Jan–Sep 2026 announced cuts (all industries) | Jan–Sep 2025 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 114,818 | 144,528 | −21% | Challenger, September 2026 |
| Washington | 52,313 | 37,550 | +39% | Challenger, September 2026 |
Because Challenger’s state tables cover all industries, this table shows where cuts land geographically, not tech’s share within each state.
Tech Layoffs Forecast: How Many Cuts in Late 2026 and 2027?
2026 full-year scenarios
Axis Intelligence Research estimates 2026 will end with between 184,234 and 212,492 announced U.S. tech job cuts. Every scenario breaks the 2001 record of 168,395.
| Scenario | Assumption | 2026 full-year estimate | Formula |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Q4 runs at August’s pace (lowest month of 2026) | 184,234 | 165,925 + 3 × 6,103 |
| Mid | Q4 repeats Q3 2026 | 192,694 | 165,925 + 26,769 |
| High | Q4 repeats Q4 2025 | 212,492 | 165,925 + 46,567 |
These are estimates, not forecasts of any company’s plans. The Q4 2025 tech total (46,567) is an Axis calculation: Challenger’s 2025 full-year tech total minus its January–September 2025 total.
Axis 2027 base case
Axis Intelligence Research sets a 2027 base case of about 162,290 announced U.S. tech job cuts, the average of 2023 (168,032), 2024 (133,988), 2025 (154,445), and the 2026 mid scenario (192,694). That would be below 2026 but a fifth consecutive year above 130,000.
The base case rests on a four-year average because tech cuts have not returned to their pre-2022 range in any year since. The figure will be revised as Q4 2026 data arrives.
What would push 2027 higher: AI infrastructure budgets that keep rising faster than revenue. Meta alone guided to $135–145 billion in 2026 capital expenditures. When capex outruns revenue, payroll is the line that absorbs the difference, and Oracle’s 10-K now says so in writing.
What would pull 2027 lower: the hiring indicators. Software development postings up 23.8% year over year, active tech postings at a three-year high, and a TCHR that halved in a year are the leading signals. Postings lead payrolls by months; if they hold into early 2027, the cut cycle should ease.
David Park’s read: If you are planning a 2027 job search, plan around two windows. Late January through March is when annual budgets reset and the largest cuts tend to be announced — 2026’s Amazon reduction landed in January, and Q2 was the year’s worst quarter. Summer and early fall, by contrast, produced the quietest months. The base case says 2027 will not be easy. It also says it is unlikely to be worse than 2026. Axis’s broader 2027 workforce outlook is on Future of Work Trends.
Methodology
Axis Intelligence Research built this page from three independent measurement systems, each answering a different question.
Announcements (Challenger, Gray & Christmas). Tech job cuts, hiring plans, AI-cited cuts, and state totals come from Challenger’s monthly reports for January through September 2026, plus its December 2023 and December 2025 annual reports for historical totals. Challenger’s “technology” industry classification is used throughout.
Government data (BLS via FRED). Payroll employment uses the Current Employment Statistics series for information (USINFO) and computer systems design and related services (CES6054150001), both seasonally adjusted. Layoffs and discharges use JOLTS for the information sector (JTU5100LDL), not seasonally adjusted, summed January through August for each year so like periods are compared.
Company filings (SEC EDGAR). The Axis Big Tech Headcount Snapshot uses the employee counts each company reported in its 10-K or earnings release. Changes are latest filing minus the filing for the same period one year earlier. Fiscal periods differ by company, and counts marked “~” are reported as approximate by the company.
Demand indicators. Active and new tech postings come from CompTIA’s analysis of Lightcast data; tech unemployment from CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data; software development postings from Indeed Hiring Lab’s index via FRED, credited to Indeed.
Axis calculations disclosed on this page:
- TCHR = Challenger tech announced cuts ÷ Challenger tech announced hiring plans, same period.
- Gap to record = 168,395 − 2026 YTD tech cuts.
- Daily rate = YTD tech cuts ÷ days elapsed (273 through September 30).
- 2026 scenarios = YTD + Q4 assumption (3 × lowest month; Q3 2026 total; Q4 2025 total).
- 2027 base case = mean of 2023, 2024, 2025 actuals and the 2026 mid scenario, rounded to the nearest 10.
- JOLTS Jan–Aug sums = sum of eight monthly NSA readings.
How the three counts differ. Challenger counts announced U.S. cuts, which can be phased over months and can include roles later filled internally. JOLTS counts realized separations reported by sampled employers in the whole information sector, which is broader than “tech companies” (it includes telecom and publishing) and excludes tech workers in other industries. Company filings report net headcount — layoffs minus hiring — globally. None of the three is a substitute for the others, which is why this page reports all three side by side rather than blending them into a single number.
About This Dataset
File: tech-layoffs-statistics.csv · License: CC BY 4.0 · Rows: 182 · Coverage: United States (Challenger, BLS, CompTIA, Indeed) and global company headcount (SEC filings), 2001–2026, with Axis 2026 scenarios and a 2027 base case.
Each row is one observation with its value, unit, as-of date, period, geography, and segment, plus provenance: source organization, source document, source URL, retrieval date (October 29, 2026), whether the source is primary, whether the figure is an Axis calculation, and the formula for every calculated row. Values are raw numbers; percentages and units live in the unit column.
Suggested citation line: Axis Intelligence Research, “Tech Layoffs 2026: Statistics, Record Watch and 2027 Outlook,” 2026.
How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Park, D. (2026, October 29). Tech layoffs 2026: 165,925 job cuts through September, 2,470 short of the all-time record — and what 2027 looks like. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/tech-layoffs-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and David Park. “Tech Layoffs 2026: 165,925 Job Cuts Through September, 2,470 Short of the All-Time Record — and What 2027 Looks Like.” Axis Intelligence, 29 Oct. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/tech-layoffs-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research and David Park. “Tech Layoffs 2026: 165,925 Job Cuts Through September, 2,470 Short of the All-Time Record — and What 2027 Looks Like.” Axis Intelligence, October 29, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/tech-layoffs-statistics/.
Tech Layoffs FAQ
How many tech workers have been laid off in 2026 so far?
U.S. tech companies announced 165,925 job cuts from January through September 2026, up 54% from a year earlier, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Axis Intelligence Research calculates that equals about 608 announced cuts per day. Government JOLTS data shows 392,000 layoffs and discharges in the broader information sector from January to August.
Will 2026 break the record for tech layoffs?
Almost certainly. The record is 168,395 announced tech cuts in 2001, and 2026 needed only 2,470 more after September, per Axis Intelligence Research’s analysis of Challenger data. Even August 2026, the quietest month, cut 6,103 — more than twice the remaining gap.
Why are tech companies posting more jobs while still laying people off?
Because the cuts and the openings are in different roles. CompTIA counted 625,633 active tech postings in September 2026, a three-year high, while tech sector employment fell by 10,350 the same month. Employers are removing management layers while posting heavily for AI skills: 349,821 active postings requested them.
Which big tech companies cut the most employees in 2026?
By filed headcount, Oracle (−21,000), Intel (−19,100), Meta (−11,675), Dell (−11,000) and Microsoft (−5,000) shrank year over year, per SEC filings. Amazon (+49,000) and Alphabet (+14,590) grew despite announcing cuts. Axis Intelligence Research finds the six non-Amazon filers net 53,185 fewer employees.
What percentage of 2026 layoffs are blamed on AI?
About 21%. Employers cited AI for 120,136 of 573,195 announced U.S. job cuts across all industries from January to September 2026, per Challenger. That counts only cuts where employers named AI; as a share of all U.S. layoffs measured by JOLTS, the AI share is far smaller.
Will tech layoffs continue in 2027?
Axis Intelligence Research’s 2027 base case is about 162,290 announced U.S. tech cuts — below 2026 but still historically high. Rising software development postings (+23.8% year over year on Indeed’s index) argue for easing; record AI capital spending argues for continued payroll trimming.
Are software engineering jobs coming back?
Postings are recovering, but not to pre-2020 levels. Indeed’s software development index reached 80.79 in October 2026 (February 2020 = 100), its highest since August 2023 and 31.2% above its 2025 low. CompTIA counted 47,598 new software developer openings in September 2026.
What is the Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR)?
The Tech Cut-to-Hire Ratio (TCHR) is an Axis Intelligence Research metric dividing announced U.S. tech job cuts by announced tech hiring plans for the same period, both from Challenger. The January–September 2026 TCHR was 7.42, down from 15.26 in the same months of 2025.
Why do tech layoff counts differ so much between sources?
They measure different things. Challenger counts announced U.S. cuts; JOLTS counts realized layoffs across the whole information sector; company filings report net global headcount; crowd-sourced trackers count global layoffs including startups and non-U.S. staff. Compare figures only within the same source and method.
Correction, October 29, 2026: Earlier versions of this page cited third-party tracker totals (205,832 workers; 1,009 per day) and described 2023 as the record year at 262,000–264,000 tech job cuts. Using Challenger, Gray & Christmas primary data, 2026 tech cuts total 165,925 through September (about 608 per day); the sector’s record is 168,395 in 2001, and 2023 recorded 168,032. A previously published proprietary index has been withdrawn. An earlier “20,000–30,000” Oracle layoff figure has been replaced with Oracle’s filed headcount, which fell from about 162,000 to about 141,000.
Related on Axis: AI Layoff Tracker · AI Job Market Tracker · AI Job Displacement Statistics · AI Job Loss Statistics · AI Replacing Jobs Statistics · Future of Work Trends · AI Capex Tracker · Careers, Work & Education
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