Tech Layoffs Accelerate in 2023

2023 年科技業加速裁員

Facing an uncertain global economy and slowing revenue growth, technology companies have picked up the pace of layoffs in 2023, with total staff reductions exceeding those of the previous year. Tech stocks have also been in a tailspin for most of the last 12 months, contributing further to layoffs in the tech industry after the pandemic years of growth.

面對全球經濟的動盪和營收成長緩慢，科技公司在 2023 年加快了裁員的步伐，總裁員人數超過前一年。過去 12 個月的多數時候，科技股也一直處於下滑狀態，科技產業在經歷了疫情期間的蓬勃發展之後更加重了裁員的情形。

Even tech giants like Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook) and X have carried out mass layoffs, with Jeff Bezos’ company topping the global ranking with 18,000 job cuts. This represents 6% of Amazon’s 300,000-person corporate workforce. On January 19, Microsoft announced it would reduce its workforce by about 10,000 employees. And a day later, Google parent Alphabet announced it would cut 12,000 jobs. The winter months have been especially difficult for tech companies and startups.

就連亞馬遜、Meta（前身為 Facebook）和 X（舊名 Twitter）等科技巨擘也進行大規模裁員，其中貝佐斯的公司以裁員 1.8 萬人位居全球榜首，此規模佔亞馬遜 30 萬名企業員工的 6%。1 月 19 日，微軟宣布將裁員約 1 萬人。一天後，谷歌母公司字母控股宣布將裁員 1.2 萬人。對科技公司和新創公司來說，今年冬季尤其艱困。

In November 2022 alone, over 50,000 tech workers were let go globally. Meta fired 11,000 employees, Amazon let 10,000 workers go, and Salesforce laid off another 1,000 following previous waves of layoffs. In the fintech sector, crypto companies were among the hardest hit. While only 63 companies reduced their workforce, industry leaders Crypto.com, Coinbase and Kraken alone fired a combined total of more than 5,000 employees, likely due in part to market volatility and the drastic drop in the price of popular tokens like Bitcoin, known as the “crypto winter.”

單單在 2022 年 11 月，全球就有超過 5 萬名科技業員工被解僱。Meta 解雇了 1.1 萬名員工，亞馬遜解雇了 1 萬名員工，先前才經歷過幾波裁員潮的賽富時又解雇了 1 千名員工。在金融科技業，加密貨幣公司是受創最嚴重的行業之一。雖然只有 63 家公司裁員，但光是業界龍頭 Crypto.com、比特幣基地和海怪就總共解雇了逾 5 千名員工，部分原因可能是市場波動和比特幣等流行代幣價格的大幅下跌，也就是所謂的「加密貨幣寒冬」。

So far in 2023, over 120,000 employees have been laid off in the tech sector, which is close to 75% of the tech and startup workforce let go in all of 2022. Most recently, companies like Dell, IBM, PayPal, Yahoo and Zoom slashed 1,300 to 6,500 employees each. In total, about 283,000 people were let go between January 1, 2022 and March 2, 2023, around 68% of them in the United States.

2023 年至今，科技業已裁員超過 12 萬名員工，接近 2022 年科技和新創公司 75% 的裁員人數。最近戴爾、IBM、PayPal、雅虎和 Zoom 等公司各自裁員 1,300 至 6,500 名員工。2022 年 1 月 1 日至 2023 年 3 月 2 日期間，總共約有 28 萬 3 千人被解僱，其中約 68% 發生在美國。

Other factors in the unprecedented wave of tech layoffs are Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and increased plant closures in China due to the country’s zero-COVID policy, which has significantly exacerbated the global economic situation. And in addition to external causes, these layoffs can also be partially blamed on excessive hiring in previous years. Meta, for example, expanded its workforce by 60% between 2019 and 2021, from 45,000 to 72,000 employees. One of the few tech giants to avoid major layoffs is Apple, due in part to CEO Tim Cook taking a pay cut of $50 million, 40% of his income generated from the company.

造成史無前例的科技業裁員潮其他因素包括俄羅斯對烏克蘭的侵略戰爭，以及中國因新冠清零政策而導致關閉工廠數量增加，這使全球經濟形勢更顯嚴峻。除上述的外部原因，這波裁員也可以部分歸咎於前幾年的過度招聘。例如 Meta 在 2019 年至 2021 年間增加了 60% 的員工人數，從 4 萬 5 千人增至 7 萬 2 千人。蘋果公司是少數避免大規模裁員的科技巨擘之一，部分原因是執行長庫克減薪 5 千萬美元，相當於他從公司領取收入的 4 成。

While the tech layoff trend has affected companies large and small, the silver lining for technology professionals is that most of the layoffs involve non-technical staff. In fact, a lack of experienced tech talent means companies have been raising compensation for IT professionals, with management consulting firm Janco Associates predicting that pay hikes for IT pros could reach 8% in 2023.

雖然科技業裁員潮影響了大大小小的公司，但對科技專業人員來說稍有慰藉的是，多數被裁員的是非科技人員。事實上，由於缺乏經驗豐富的科技人才，各公司一直在提高資訊科技專業人員的薪酬，管理諮詢公司 Janco Associates 預測，資訊科技專業人員的薪資在 2023 年的漲幅可能達 8%。