Around 60 companies announced layoffs in August 2022, according to GlobalData’s News Database, with the technology sector responsible for the majority of these announcements. According to the leading data and analytics company, rising inflation, interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and fears of a possible recession have negatively impacted business sentiment across all sectors leading to companies cutting costs by laying off staff.

Furthermore, according to GlobalData’s Job Analytics Database, the number of ‘active jobs’, defined as a number of jobs available on a company’s recruitment page that is open for applications, have been on a downtrend since June 2022. Meanwhile, ‘job closures’, where the job is removed from the recruitment page, overtook new job postings, which fell across all sectors.

Sherla Sriprada, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Tencent, Xiaomi, Otonomo Technologies, Stripe, Nutanix, Wixcom, and Snap have laid off employees in August 2022. Of particular interest is Microsoft, which laid off 1% of its total workforce due to the economic slowdown, and has plans to terminate a further 200 employees from its consumer research and development (R&D) team as a part of its realignment structure. The company’s job postings fell by 47% in August 2022 over January 2022.”

Alongside the technology sector, the retail sector was another key sector affected by layoffs.

Sriprada continues: “Walmart announced the termination of 200 corporate employees in August 2022, and is planning to invest in growth areas such as ecommerce, health and wellness, and its supply chain. The company also aims to increase the headcount of its healthcare department and evolve into a more digital company. Other retail companies, including Alibaba, Best Buy, Bath & Body Works, Groupon, Wayfair also announced layoffs.”

In the banking & payments services sector, Credit Suisse is planning to reduce its workforce, while other companies such as Genesis Global Trading and Berenberg Wealth Management also announced layoffs. Meanwhile, Automotive companies that were impacted include Ford and Rivian.

Sriprada adds: “Credit Suisse’s job postings fell by 35% in August 2022 over January 2022. Meanwhile, Ford is planning to trim its workforce by 3,000 employees and Rivian has announced plans to layoff around 6% of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure. The company’s job postings fell by 21% in August 2022 over January 2022.”

As well as analysing by sector, GlobalData also researched the impact of layoffs on different geographical regions. Its research found that the APAC region, specifically in India and China, witnessed layoffs in companies such as Ford, Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi.

Sriprada notes: “Tencent announced layoffs of 5,500 employees for the first time since 2014 following a slowdown in sales. Tencent’s China job postings fell by 54% in August 2022 over January 2022.”